Sharingan Testament
by Nozomi Purise
Summary: Sakura returns to Konoha, memories lost and a scroll from a dead man to Kakashi. What will happen when she encounters the dead man's brother?
1. Ch1: Not Quite Kidnapped

_It is imperative that you follow the instructions I'm about to give you. Suffice to know that I am a brother. Not by blood, but by…well, call it an inheritance. By the time you've awoken I will be dead, and I don't know how extensive the damage is in your mind. Go to Konoha, the Hidden Village of the Leaf. When you get there, tell them you need to speak to Kakashi. Give him the other scroll that I've left on your person - that'll explain this situation to him, and he should be able to help you. _

_MAKE SURE you burn this scroll after you've read and memorized it. Keep these two names in mind: Itachi, and Orochimaru. They're the cause of all this. Orochimaru is responsible for my death and the suffering you shall have to go through because of it; and Itachi, he killed my…our family. Like I said, you are considered part of my family now. _

_Lastly, be certain that NOBODY sees your eyes. You still have your ANBU mask; wear it when you're in public. Let nobody see your face until after you speak to Kakashi.I am fully aware that this will be a difficult task for you; however, it is absolutely necessary that you get to Konoha and that they know what has happened to me. Make certain that the other scroll goes to Kakashi before anyone else. He can explain everything that's happened to you and fill you in on some other matters that you'll need to know._

_If your mind can ever be repaired, suffice to know that I'm grateful that I had you in my last moments. Thank you._

_-Uchiha Sasuke_

So far, following the instructions hadn't been a problem. According to the previous innkeeper, she was about two days' travel from the Hidden Village of the Leaf. As the scroll insisted, she also stayed in full ANBU uniform all the time (including the white panther-decorated mask), disregarding the fact that it was torn and battered to an extent that made her wonder exactly how it had gotten so. She'd received more than a pleasant number of stares for it, but she fixedly ignored them, steadily making her way to Konoha and the answers it may hold for her.

For now she focused her mind on less complicated matters - branch by branch, she was leaping her way through an enormous forest that, unless she was mistaken, would lead her directly to Konoha. She'd likely be intercepted by other shinobi before she actually reached it, and escorted from then on. Hence, she didn't bother concealing her chakra - best sooner than later. After all, her canteen was drier than a corpse's bone now.

She was fast finding tree-hopping to be an item impossible to focus all her mind on, and it was straying to other, more complex thoughts to draw out from the shadows of her mind. Like, what would happen when she reached her destination? What would she learn from this 'Kakashi'? What was this void she felt in her mind when she read all these names? It felt as though something should be there, but was erased. Like a long-lost memory…

A glint of steel in the corner of her masked eye brought her to an immediate stop; she had been found. A feeling of anticipation coupled with trepidation sent a small tremor through her body as three ANBU made themselves known to her immediate sight. All were ready for an attack; one on the far left had three kunai clutched between his fingers and four shuriken in the opposite hand, prepared to throw on a nanosecond's notice. The one on the right had his hand near his kunai pouch, equally ready. Only the one in the middle seemed not to be expecting an attack. She dropped to the ground, giving them the higher ground.

"You can take me to Konoha…?" Her voice, scratchy with lack of use, echoed slightly against the trees, giving the scene a sense of ethereality as the center man nodded his head. The one on the right let his hand drift from the pouch of kunai. She noticed that his posture was tensed, as though expecting something. "Is that you, Sakura?" _Her _voice, she corrected, the voice far more melodic and smooth than her own, although it was a higher pitch.

She made no response to the other shinobi. She slowly unhitched her katana from her waist and set it on the ground before her, intending to go as peacefully as possible. "I have a message for Kakashi. I must speak to him as soon as possible. Can you take me to him?" The man standing in the center took off his ANBU mask, revealing his face; or, at least part of it, as his lower face was covered with a black cloth and one eye covered by his hitai-ate. He nodded and spoke through his second mask.

"We'll take you to an ANBU holding cell and Kakashi can speak to you there. Is that alright?" The white-haired man kept his face expressionless as the other two shinobi turned slightly in his direction. Apparently there was something amiss in his statement, or hers. She, however, chose not to point it out; rather, she nodded silently and simply said, "Lead the way, then, if you will." Without another word, the jounin leapt to another branch, then another, gesturing for the others to follow. The left shinobi darted forward to grab her katana and followed suit.

She bounded back up into the branches after the first two shinobi while the female one took a place behind her as a rear guard. They led her to her destination and, hopefully, to some answers.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

_At least_, she thought dryly to herself, _they had the decency to leave a comfy chair._ Which, in fact, was the only thing in her 'holding cell,' which was probably a cleaner prison cell. It certainly had the feel of one, with its cold iron walls and bolted door. She adjusted her vest over her new uniform; she was unused and uncomfortable to wearing it without all its pockets filled with various weapons within easy reach. They'd taken all her gear save for the sealed scroll, which she'd insisted on keeping, explaining that it was for Kakashi directly.

She hoped that the opportunity to speak to him would arrive soon - The clock placed on the wall showed her the it was nearly nightfall. She'd already been there for a full day now…If she closed her eyes she could imagine the setting sun splashing the azure sky with red and gold, astounding the gloom of oncoming dusk. It was a moment that she held vividly in her mind; if she held onto those colors as they bled across the sky she wouldn't think of where she had woken up and what revelations awaited her.

Fortunately, it seemed she wouldn't wait any longer. She opened her eyes and the brilliant oranges slid from her vision as she heard a bolt slide open on the metal door, followed by three more metallic shifts that let her know the door had been fully unlocked. The handle slid down and the heavy door swung inward to show the shinobi with two masks, the jounin who'd led her to this very village, to this very cell. She dipped her head in greeting, and he lifted a hand and uttered a casual, "Yo."

"Am I to see Kakashi yet?" She asked politely, absently adjusting the mask on her face, another item she'd refused to let be confiscated. The cloth covering his mouth shifted in what she could only assume was a smile. "You're looking at him."

She didn't let her surprise show - hiding it as she shifted in her seat to pull the scroll out of a pocket in her vest and promptly held it out to the shinobi. "I was instructed to deliver this to you directly, Kakashi-san. It is from Uchiha Sasuke." She saw the smile drop from beneath his mask immediately and he reached out and took the scroll. She sat back and exhaled slowly, closing her eyes again as she listened to, rather than watched, the scroll being unsealed and opened.

She began thinking about what exactly she needed to ask this Kakashi. First and foremost were Itachi and Orochimaru; "They're the cause of all this," the letter had said. _But the cause of what?_ So that, rather, was what she needed to find out first: What has happened to her? Why could she not let her face be seen before seeing this man? What had Sasuke meant when he referred to 'the damage in her mind?' She was already aware that something important was missing but when she tried to remember it she only drew a blank. It was like having a picture in the middle of a room and having the light switched off when you finally got close enough to see what the picture was.

A small throat-clearing cough brought her out of her musings and her eyes snapped back open to look at Kakashi. What little of his face she could see had attained a slight pallor to it as he examined her with his one eye. "This is a predicament indeed…" He said softly to himself. He kneeled down so that he was eye-to-eye with her masked face. "Is there anything you remember that you can tell me?" He said. There was more than polite formal concern in his voice. Slowly, she shook her head.

"I only remember waking up with this scroll in my hand and my ANBU mask in the other…I'm sorry I cannot be of more assistance to you, Kakashi-san." He sighed and closed his eye. He asked slowly, "Can you remember any faces, any names? _Your_ name?" Her gaze fell from his to stare blankly at the ground. "I remember reading that Orochimaru and Itachi were responsible for this. I remember being told to come to you to find out what's happened. That is all."

To her dismay, the white-haired jounin ran his hand through his messy tresses. "Oh, dear…This most certainly isn't good." He opened the door and said something to a passing ANBU that darted off and returned with a chair, which Kakashi placed in front of her and sat in.

"Okay," he said, with the air of a man preparing to tell a long story, "I'm going to start with you and go from there. But first, I'd like us to take off our masks. Alright?" A smile spread under the cloth again. "It's something that you tried time and time again to get me to do - an event, unfortunately, that you've lost the memory of." She nodded and took the mask off her face, letting the panther face she'd adopted lay face-up in her lap. Kakashi, in turn, untied the black cloth from around his face and lifted his hitai-ate off his eye.

_His blood-red eye, which looked just like hers._

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Let me in! I gotta see Sakura-chan!"

The voice jerked Haruno Sakura out of her reverie. After the almost four-hour long conversation with Kakashi, her former teacher and teammate, she'd learned all she'd needed to know and more she wished she didn't. Sasuke's defection. Her training to join ANBU just so she could run away after him. Being labeled a missing-nin. Sasuke making her promise to transplant her eyes with his as he died. The prospect of forever carrying the object of her lost love and lost memories in her eyes that weren't even hers.

The Sharingan.

Still, the memories would not come to her, except in fleeting images that faded as quickly as they appeared.

"Please, Naruto! She needs to rest! You can come back in the morning." Another voice chimed in, pleading. Sakura turned to the door with a small sigh. "You may let him in," she called out. No more than half a second later the door swung open so fast a cracked line appeared around the wall it smashed into, and Sakura found herself being hugged tightly enough to pop a few ribs out of place. She coughed and wheezed and patted a messy blond head rather awkwardly.

_I feel bad that I don't remember him…_ She thought, biting her lip. _He's obviously a friend…But I couldn't even remember his name if not for that healer outside calling it out._ "Hey, Naruto…" She said slowly, "Think I can breathe now?" The blond boy quickly scrambled back up and chuckled, flashing what had to be the biggest goofiest grin she'd ever seen in her life, and it brought a small smile to her face.

"Man, Kakashi-sensei told me about what happened, told me all kinds of bad stuff…" He looked into her eyes watching very carefully for a moment. "So he made you promise to transplant your eyes with his? Why the heck would he do that? Hey, hang on…" He looked even closer, and she scooted back a tiny bit. "You've got three wheel things on yours! I thought he only had two on one of 'em! Maybe he evolved while I wasn't looking. Do you know how to use them? Did you…" His tangent continued, assaulting her with questions that he didn't give the time to let her answer.

Finally, Sakura held a hand up and muttered, "Shut up, already." He fell silent just like that. _Huuu…Should've done that sooner._ "Did you have any questions that you actually wanted an answer to?" The hyperactive demeanor that surrounded the boisterous teen mellowed out enough for him to stand in a relaxed position. His expression seemed uncharacteristically serious. "Do you remember anything about any of us?"

Sakura exhaled slowly. _There'd be no point in lying to him. The sooner he knows, the better for both of us._ She let her crimson eyes rest on his electric blue ones for a few seconds, then shook her head. "Kakashi tried to fill me in on some stuff…But he says he doesn't think the damage can be undone." Naruto's face looked crestfallen for a minute before a grin was back on his face. "Alright then," he said, confidence practically vibrating in the air. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I'm gonna be the next Hokage. Believe it!" Sakura couldn't help but laugh.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

_"Sakura…Sakura…"_

_"I'm right here, Sasuke!" A pale hand clutched hers and gently but firmly pried it from his blood-soaked chest, which was rising and falling slowly, too slowly to keep oxygen in properly…_

_"Don't waste your chakra…We both know I can't survive. He's already inside, so if I die,--"_

_"No, Sasuke! There has to be another way to save you!" A tear fell from Sakura's face and landed on his cheek. His black hair, matted with blood accumulated around them on the floor, made it stick down in clumps so unlike his naturally messy style. Seeing the boy she loved broken in such a way tore her heart apart._

_"Don't be stupid, Sakura!" He growled; the duality of his voice and Orochimaru's made her jump and stiffen._

_"Take my eyes, Sakura."_

_"Wh…What?"_

_"Kakashi has a transplanted Sharingan eye, remember? Do that with mine. You've got the medic abilities to do it. I know you do."_

_"But Sasuke, how will you see?"_

_"I won't need to where I'm going."_

_"No, Sasuke, don't make me…" She hated how her voice broke and pleaded, she was so useless at such an important time!_

_His grip on her hand tightened and he fixed her with a glare, the most severe glare he'd ever given her. "Promise me, Sakura. Promise to replace your eyes with mine." Another tear trailed down her cheek; she bit her lip and nodded. His grip eased slightly. "I might die, but I'll have what revenge I can against Itachi…He won't have the satisfaction of being the only person with the Mangekyou…_

_"Thank you, Sakura…"_

Sakura's eyes snapped open and she bolted upright in bed, instantly awake and with the feel of Sasuke's blood-soaked head still in her lap. She sat still, allowing her heart to slowly come back down to its normal pace. _That must have been one of my forgotten memories…So, that was Sasuke? I could remember him while I was dreaming…_Another question crossed her mind, one that troubled her in that something big had been left unanswered.

_If he'd been dying right then, how did he survive long enough to write those two scrolls?_

She was certain she wouldn't get back to sleep now, at any rate. The memory-slash-dream had shaken her too much to allow herself to rest again. While a part of her wanted to know the truth, something else about it made her think that some of her questions were better left unanswered. If Sasuke had known how she would lose her memory, then there had to be reasoning behind it. If, after all, he'd wanted her to remember, he would've known some way to keep it from happening.

Then again, maybe he simply wanted her to forget about him and the mistakes he'd made.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Keep in mind that our only goal right now is to isolate and retrieve the target for which the Kyuubi will follow us."

"The one at the hospital, yeah? He threw a fit at the healer just to see the shinobi."

"The target is also a member of ANBU. Chakra signature identifies him as a medic-nin. Don't underestimate him."

"Something was wrong with him - remember?"

"Mm."

"He must have been a missing-nin…yeah. He probably gave them some valuable information to be released from HQ to a hospital."

"For now, let us focus on phase one: target isolation."

"Got it."

Two men were slowly making their way toward the Village of Konoha's gate; both were clad in matching black cloaks and both wore hats obscuring their faces. A tiny bell on the straw hats released a haunting yet soothing chime with every step. For all intents and purposes they seemed like nothing more than weary, tired old travelers trying to find a comfortable inn. The chunin guard gave them a wary once-over before telling them the direction to just such an inn to rest: Across the street and two doors over from the medic tower.

They saw that a pair of jounin - casually disguised by the shadows - were making sure the duo arrived 'safely' at their 'intended' destination. One of the men smirked slightly at the small irony of it. Unknown to the two Leaf jounin, they too were being watched, by another pair of eyes even more obscured than theirs.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

A prickling on the back of her neck drew Haruno Sakura out of bed in a rush to hold a weapon, any weapon, in her hand. She could feel four distinct chakra signatures, all concealed, converging at an uncomfortably short distance from the medic tower. If she looked out the window, there would be the possibility of being seen, both for her and the other shinobi. However, she would have the advantage of high ground, being on the third floor. She weighed her options, shuriken in hand, before silently making her way to the window.

_Those two shinobi…They look familiar somehow._ The thought to herself, rather idly. Hidden in the shadows between the buildings were two Leaf shinobi, who were following the newcomers warily. _Wonder where they're from…Augh! Why do I recognize those cloaks as trouble? _It registered in her mind that they'd come to a stop right in front of the medic tower and ducked her head back inside before they looked up to her window; something told her that what they wanted had something to do with _her_.

"What are they here for…?" She whispered to herself.

"They're here for you…yeah."

She whirled and brought the shuriken to a face but a kunai had already caught her at the neck. Her first reaction would normally have been to use the shuriken to bat the kunai away and commence an assault, but, with a grimace, she noted that she'd been backed against the wall and wouldn't have the time necessary to leap out of range after the kunai was batted away.

"I cannot _believe_ I just did that." She tossed the shuriken to the ground, angrier at herself than her attacker. "What a blunt tactic, and I didn't even think of it." She sighed in exasperation and rubbed her left temple.

If her reaction surprised the other shinobi, he didn't show it. He almost reminded Sakura of a longer-haired, more feminine Naruto. Blond hair, blue eyes, slashed hitai-ate…Well, minus the slashed hitai-ate. Still…

"At least you're being calm and quiet…yeah. Wouldn't want to have to knock you out." A casual grin spread across his face. "You know, this is a pretty high-caliber Replacement jutsu…yeah." He stabbed his kunai into her neck, hitting bone with a thunk. His grin grew slightly wider and he pulled the kunai out and threw it to his right, landing with a more sound shift of metal hitting real flesh. Smoke dissipated around the replacement, which turned out to be the wooden nightstand. Said nightstand had a deep scar in it where the kunai had struck it.

Sakura held her arm with a grimace; sure, she would heal it without a problem, but having a kunai stab through one's arm and pinning it to the wall still hurt like hell… She squeezed her eyes shut, as though blindness would lessen the pain. Unfortunately, it didn't. "Okay…You've got my attention. You obviously don't intend to kill me."

"Yeah…" His voice drifted slightly as he turned his gaze from her to the window. A long, slow sigh was heard, even though she could only see his back. _How's he so easygoing…_Perhaps it was a matter of position versus situation; She was far from easygoing at the moment. Blood pattered against the floor.

"He thought you were a boy, though…Surprise surprise…yeah." He turned and walked over to her, resting his hand on the handle of the kunai. "You can come peacefully or I can knock you out and you come peacefully…yeah. Okay?" Before she answered, he pulled the kunai out of her arm. She winced and shuddered before putting a hand to the wound, applying her healing chakra as soon as her mind set the pain aside enough to do so.

"Decisions, decisions…" She said softly, sarcasm more than evident in her voice. Her eyes were still closed. "But where are you taking me?"

"Can't spoil the mission details!…yeah." The guy chuckled. "Hey, why do you still have your eyes closed…yeah?"

"An eye for an eye, if you'll pardon the pun. You at least tell me who you're taking me to, and I'll tell you why my eyes are closed." After a moment of silence in which her soon-to-be kidnapper pondered his options she added, "Or I can cause a big ruckus before you knock me out…"

"Aw, okay, okay…yeah. I'm taking you to Itachi…yeah."

_Keep these two names in mind: Itachi, and Orochimaru._

_'Itachi is Sasuke's brother.' _Kakashi's voice echoed in her mind._ 'He killed the entire Uchiha clan to "test his powers." At least, as far as we know…'_

'_Itachi? As in Uchiha Itachi? Ha! You're not very smart for a shinobi. He's an S-class missing-nin from your village. He killed off his whole clan!'_

Sakura stood still for several minutes. She certainly hadn't been instructed by Sasuke on what to do to his brother should she meet him, but he'd made her transplant his eyes for revenge…Should she try to kill him? '_Itachi had mastered the Mangekyou Sharingan. He's extremely powerful; even Orochimaru admitted that he was afraid of Itachi.'_ These words made her shudder again. Such power…what would he want with her? Did it have something to do with Sasuke or is it because she now possesses the Sharingan herself?

She opened her eyes and looked to her kidnapper, whose grin fell from his face.

"Very well. Please take me to Itachi-san."

-Aha! And I end it here! This is an idea that I've had swishing around in my head for awhile now and I simply couldn't wait any longer - I HAD to get it typed out! And now my brain won't stop churning out ideas. I recently saw one story, The Devil's Trill, and it made me very sad cuz that was the EXACT idea that I was gonna use! -cries- I'll still incorporate music somehow or another...but still, I'm devastated. -sigh- But, in the next chapter; Meeting Uchiha Itachi and Co...and the Troubles that Follow.

Oh, yeah...A forewarning: This _is_ an Itachi/Sakura fic...


	2. Ch2: Complications

_She opened her eyes and looked to her kidnapper, whose grin fell from his face._

"_Very well. Please take me to Itachi-san."_

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

The process was simple, really. Infiltrate, obtain target, leave, and wait for Kyuubi. Simplicity is a virtue among the Akatsuki. In fact, it's a virtue among all missing-nin. The politics involved with being a high-level shinobi (especially ANBU) werejust asdangerousas the dangers posed to being a missing-nin. Every jounin thinks about it at some point…becoming a missing-nin, that is. Most are too afraid of the consequences to follow through with it, though. Those who do are quickly disillusioned about the grandeur of their village. From an outside view, you can figuratively see the village rotting with corruption from the inside out.

It's not the fault of the Kages, though. A rotting apple is rotten in the flesh, not in the seed. But the rotting flesh is those high-ranking shinobi around that seed, which quickly affects the entire apple. Sometimes a Kage doesn't see it coming, and suddenly finds the entire village decayed and he or she being labeled as the cause of the rot. That's when Kages, like missing-nin, are disillusioned as well.

Getting back to the point at hand, the girl has just complicated the process just a smidgen. While the fact that the target was a girl was surprising, it didn't make anything difficult, really. It just meant that either Kisame or Sasori would lecture him later about how he should pay closer attention to detail when following a target. Their missions, after all, had to be successful from top to bottom at all times. Itachi would just give him 'The Look' and turn away.

No, it was the many ideas going through Deidara's head about just how Itachi would react when he saw that this particular girl, the target, had Sharingan eyes.Everybody knew that onlyhe and his brother possessed the Sharingan by blood, which means that either this girl was missed when he massacred his family or the girl had transplanted the eyes from another person possessing the Sharingan.

Deidara really doubted that Itachi would have missed a person by accident during his killing rampage. And it seemed even less likely that he would have left her alive on purpose. (Then again, Sasuke was an exception to that idea.) Besides, she looked nothing like the traditional pale, dark-haired Uchihas. Which meant that she'd gotten the Sharingan from another source.

It didn't take a genius like Deidara to know who she could have gotten them from. Surprise surprise.

No, what was disconcerting about the whole thing wasn't how she'd gotten them; it washow Itachi would react. Would he kill her? Would he interrogate her then kill her? Would he demand to know why and from whom she got them, then kill her? Would he ignore it?

This general thought proces may have continued if not for the target's interruption.

"Ano...Are we going to go or not?" The pink-haired girl's voice snapped Deidara back to reality.

"Oh! Yeah...So you're going to come peacefully?"

This was another thing that was confusing him. Why was she being so compliant? Did she not know what he and his robes represented? Or did she not care? She'd been approached by ANBU rather than regular chunin guards, so she had to be a missing-nin of some level. So...

He saw her teeth gleam in the moonlight as she smiled.He thought in the back of hismind that the slightly demented expression with the Sharingan as she smiled was portrait-worthy."I'd like to stay conscious."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Her kidnapper had settled with a sort of handcuff manifested from chakra that laced several times around her hands and through her fingers. It was meant to prevent her from forming any hand seals should he be distracted. It wasn't likely that he would be distracted, however, since the shinobi that had been in the street before were now absent from the setting as she looked down from her perch on the opened window to her room. The blond-haired man stood directly behind her, ready to leap out after her when she landed on the ground outside the hospital tower.

Kidnapping wasn't a new thing to shinobi. It wasn't as common as attempted assassinations (for some strange reason, since ransoming could be more profitable) but it was pretty rare when a kidnapper...well, when they had a compliant target. Sakura couldn't tell if her kidnapper was confused by her willingness to go or not, but she figured he'd have his chance at questioning her while he led her to Itachi. She wasn't so sure herself why she was going quietly - one wouldn't think that when confronted by a cloaked stranger and told he was going to kidnap you that one would react so calmly.

Perhaps it had something to do that, despite the fact that this is the village she came from, she could feel no connection to it or any of its inhabitants. She didn't know any of the people here, not anymore. Thinking this made her feel a small twinge of sorrow; what would become of friends? Friends she no longer even knew the names and faces of? What of parties celebrated for a birthday that she couldn't remember the date of? It was as though she'd been born again - with no knowledge of any people anywhere. She knew that she could formulate upsides to this along the lines of new starts and new friends and new first impressions, but...

She leapt down into the quiet empty street below her and landed easily on her feet. She turned and watched her kidnapper land just as quietly beside her. Instinctively her eyes darted around in search of watching eyes, and was satisfied to find none. He seemed to do the same. "Gotta be quick before more jounin come...yeah." He gestured for her to follow him and did so as he bounded up to the nearest building and over the village wall.

_Well...I don't know if this enlists me under 'Missing Person' or 'Missing-nin'... _She thought to herself, chuckling at the irony of it. _But whichever I'm labeled as, I don't think I'll be coming back any time soon._

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Sakura looped around the room for the seven hundred thirty-second time that night. She couldn't decipher if it was impatience or anxiety that was keeping her from sitting, but she felt no desire to stop pacing anytime soon. She couldn't really consider this 'enemy territory,' but the idea of seeing a man who had the Mangekyou Sharingan was keeping her on a mental high-alert status.Kakashi had tried to explain what it was capable of but he wasn't so sure himself, as he'd never seen it in action. The idea scared her a little.

In other words, the idea of being killed on sight was just enough to keep her from not pacing.

It had already been three nights since she and her blond sort-of kidnapper had slipped from Konoha into the shadows of the forest. She had no idea where she was, and no inkling of just how many shinobi might be guarding her right now. If she was even being guarded. She also didn't know when, or if, she would be confronted by Uchiha Itachi.

In addition to her mounting unrest after two days' confinement, the few hourse of sleep she'd obtained had been haunted by Sharingan eyes watching her as she stood under a blood-red moon. A black shadow watched her from all sides with piercing red eyes like her own, mocking her. If she struck out at it the shadow would simply dodge back and resume its standing vigil; and if she stood still she could hear the deep voice whispering to her so quietly she couldn't make out the words he said to her.

The grate of metal against metal snapped Sakura out of her recollection and she quickly slid her ANBU mask off the top of her head and over her face. The door swung inward to reveal first the blond man that was her kidnapper. His usual grin was replaced with an expression that made her think he was saying, 'I've yet to ascertain whether it's your life or mine at risk.' The corner of her lip twitched upward briefly before the second cloaked man entered the room.

He took his straw hat, adorned with strips of white silk and a hauntingly soothing bell, and placed it neatly on the low table stationed in the center of the cell-like room with one hand, while using the other to tug open the black cloak, revealing the lower half of the face of Uchiha Itachi.

Her first impression was of his youth, for if not for the deep lines imprinted between his eyes and the bridge of his nose he wouldn't look a day older thanshe (whom, Kakashi explained, is 19). His jet-black bangs lay down the sides of his face with perfect smoothness, and the rest tied back into a low ponytail at the nape of his neck. His skin was pale but not like porcelain, the way hers was, a deceiving factor for his strength; she couldn't even register the intensity of his chakra.

Her second impression was of his eyes. They were slanted slightly upward with an angle that accented the height of his cheekbones, making his face look otherworldly in structure. Smooth and flawless in all aspects: appearance, physical prowess, chakra manipulation...a killing perfection.

He swung his cloak back gracefully and took a seat on the polished hardwood floor beneath him with perfect composure, legs folded neatly underneath him and cloak spread around his body. His eyes gestured that she do the same, and she sat down a respectful distance from him.

The silence lengthened between them for about ten seconds longer before the first cloaked man, almost forgotten in the shock of the moment, bowed slightly and said, "I'll be out back with Sharkhead...yeah." And escused himself. It seemed to be what Itachi had been waiting for, as he gave her a piercing blood-red glare.

"Show me your eyes." He said. It wasn't in a tone that demanded it; in fact there was no tone to it at all. He kept his voice perfectly even and his face void of all expression. She swallowed past a slight lump in her throat and slid the mask off her face, but didn't look him in the eye, staring instead at one of the dark clouds printed on his cloak.

_Look at me._

He didn't say it aloud but Sakura found her gaze moving upward of its own accord to meet his. _This...The hypnosis...It must be one of his abilities._ She thought to herself as Sharingan met Sharingan. _This gives him the perfect opportunity to kill me..._

Another long period of silence.

"Your name."

"I--What?" Of all the questions she was expecting him to ask, this was at the bottom of the list. "...S-Sakura."

"Surname."

_What the hell...? _"Haruno."

Another period of silence. Apparently, she thought, he likes to think his statements through carefully before voicing them. He said few words and kept them vry frank and to-the-point.

"How did he die?"

Sakura tried to look down but couldn't - he forced her gaze to remain on his._He'll tolerate no lies. But how will he accept having no truth?_ "I don't remember," She said, slowly. "I've lost my memory."

"Show me what you remember."

"Wha--"

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

_"Don't waste your chakra...We both know I can't survive. He's already inside, so if I die, --"_

_"Take my eyes, Sakura."_

_"I won't need them where I'm going."_

_"He won't have the satisfaction of being the only person with the Mangekyou..."_

_**Itachi, and Orochimaru. They're the cause of all this.**_

_Thank you._

_A flash of light. Sakura saw her hand reach out before her, reaching for the black-haired figure in the center of the blinding light, expelling black chakra from his body. Something small was flung in her direction and it landed in her outstretched hand, then all went white._

_Orochimaru!_

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

The memories had flashed through her mind's eyes too quickly for her to see them all: She saw flashes of faces and reverberating echoes of voices, overlapping each other in their speed, then everything became silent again and she found herself staring into those red eyes again. They had hardened slightly. He actually almost looked a sort of angry surprised.

"Where." It was a demand this time, and Sakura couldn't help but recoil.

"What do you mean?" She said, her voice dropping in volume out of anxiety.

"Ring."

She clenched her hand, the hand that something small had landed in during her flashback.. "I...I don't remember."

Another long period of silence. Finally, he stood again, his cloak falling fully around his body. "Come with me." Was his curt statement, before walking to the door. He paused briefly, watching her stand and uncoil her cramped legs, and veered left, with Haruno Sakura in suit. He led her through a myriad of hallways and corridors into a sort of main room. The blond, along with a peeved-looking sharklike man, looked up from their conversation to turn in their direction. Her kidnapper looked somewhat surprised that she was alive.

"Show Sakura-san to her new room." Itachi said, slowly, not looking at her. The honorific was an immediate flag; something had struck a nerve with the memory of the ring. Both the blond and the Shark-man stood up at once, sensing the tension from their red-eyed comrade. "Kisame, come with me. We must consultLeader before we place phase two in action. There may be complications." The sharklike man nodded and promptly left through another hall.

That left Sakura, Itachi and the blond. Said blond tilted his head. "An emergency...Un?"

Itachi made no effort to respond to his query, but said after a calculated silence, "Orochimaru's ring. And possibly his Biju...Gone." The blond's visible eyebrow rose. "I see...yeah." His grin spread over his face again. "Okay...yeah. She'll be staying until you come back...yeah?" The Uchiha's response was a brief nod.

And with that, Uchiha Itachi left.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Sakura sighed and rubbed her temples. It _had_ to be past midnight, but sleep refused to envelop her on her crisp futon in her equally crisp, obviously unused room. Questions were swirling madly about in her head regarding her situation and the people she was now associated with. She rolled over onto her stomach and buried her face in the small pillow. _I must be incredibly messed up in the head...What did you want me to do with your eyes, niisan? Why did you leave me like this to try and figure this all out? _Her eyes squeezed shut. _I don't know what to do..._

She heard a light tapping on the wood frame of her shoji-screen door and she gave a noncommittal mumble of assent, rolling up to a sitting position as her blond kidnapper/escort slid the door open. He grinned and rubbed the back of his head under the large ponytail.

"I told Sharkhead you wouldn't be asleep...yeah." He said. "Hungry? Got some stuff in here if you are...yeah." She nodded and sit up, eager to get out of the silence of the stiff room. "Sure, uhm...yeah." She laughed suddenly when she realized she accidentally added one of his usual 'yeah's to the end of her own sentence. The blond looked at her and chuckled lightly. "It's a habit...yeah." Her laughter faded as she stepped out of her room and the man slid the door shut again. He blew a stray hair to the side of his face; she thought it made him look rather enigmatic with his hair covering an entire half of his face.

"By the way, I'm Deidara...yeah." He dipped his head lightly. Sakura did the same. "I'm Sakura. Nice to finally know your name, Deidara-san." They both laughed again.

_Some things seem a bit off right now, niisan. I left willingly (but not voluntarily) to meet the organization that your...well, our brother is in, whom you hated...Somehow I get the feeling that you're turning in whatever grave you lay in at this predicament of mine...Sasuke. But...I'll think of something to do. Even if I just run away from here...I'll do what I can to not insult your memory, Sasuke. At any rate, I don't think I'll be calling him 'Niichan' anytime soon..._

Deidara led her through the hall and took a right, then left into the main room. She saw the blue-skinned man again, this time sitting completely silent, eating his sushi and studiously. Deidara went to his other side and sat beside him after stepping over the enormous halberd he had on the ground behind him. Sakura tentatively moved to a spot across from them. The man looked up at her, chopsticks halfway to his mouth. "Mm?" He clipped. She jumped, having expected a croak. She quickly shook her head.

"Oh, i-it's nothing...But, I thought you left with Itachi-san." He shook his head and slowly chewed his sushi. Finally, he added. "Ran into the Kyuubi. He took the brat with him." Sakura felt her heart skip a beat. _Naruto..._ "What's going to happen to him?" Deidara looked apprehensively to his companion and cut in. "Taking him to Leader...Yeah." He said simply. Sakura's eyes narrowed in, what Deidara thought, a startling resemblance of Itachi himself. Even the sharklike man looked mildly surprised.

_"What will happen to Naruto?"_ She asked, her voice dropping to a dangerously low tone. Deidara sighed slowly. "They'll probably take the Kyuubi out of him...yeah. It's Itachi-san's intended biju...yeah." The shark-man looked at him curiously. "It's none of her business, Deidara. It's Akatsuki business." The last statement was directed at her. The flare of sudden anger gone, she dropped her gaze to focus on pulling some food toward herself. Her appetite was diminished but she knew it would be wise to eat while she could. After all, she'd just stepped out of line with her current superiors.

"I'm sorry," She said simply. "There's a lot of things I don't know and can't remember..." Deidara waved a hand nonchalantly. "Don't worry!" If Sakura didn't know any better she would assume that the shark-manwas sweatdropping now. "It's not a problem, we've quite adapted to erratic behavior here, with Sharkhead and Itachi-san." 'Sharkhead' swung lightly in Deidara's direction and he comically ducked it. "...Yeah." They all laughed briefly. Deep down, Sakura wondered, _This is as far from a crime organization as I thought it could ever be. Kakashi made them out to be the sort of people who had no emotion and killed anybody in their way. Then again, I haven't exactly 'gotten in their way' yet..._

The next fifteen minutes were spent in a relatively calm silence, talk replaced by the tap of chopsticks against bowls and occasional shifts as one of the trio reached across the table for a helping. Sakura's main focus was the sushi sans cream cheese, which 'Sharkhead' avoided. Speaking of which...

"By the way, I'm Sakura," She glanced up at the blue-faced humanoid curiously. He nodded stiffly and replied, "Kisame." She nodded and smiled. _Typical. _She thought with a mental chuckle. "I figured your name was something other than Sharkhead and I'd rather not be rude." Deidara hid his laugh with a cough behind his hand, but Kisame seemed to catch the cackle underneath and shot a glare in his direction. He brushed the comment aside and turned back to their guest. "How did you get the Sharingan?" He asked.

Sakura set her chopsticks down next to her now empty bowl and shrugged a shoulder. "Well..." She paused as she tugged off her ANBU gloves, only just realizing that she'd left them on since she left Konoha. _I'll have to ask where I may wash these clothes and get something else to wear..._ Her mind came back to the query at hand. A/N: Wow, A.D.D. much... "Sasuke had me promise to transplant my eyes with his before he died." She felt a slight twinge in her heart. She couldn't remember who he was but the flashback of his blood-soaked body on her lap was as vivid as the highlights onher black leather gloves. She swallowed. "I don't remember what happened, though. Somehow, my memory's been erased."

"Um...Can you tell me something...?" She looked up soon enough to catch a significant glance pass between the two Akatsuki. They seemed to weigh their options, before Deidara said, "If we can...yeah. You know?" She nodded. "I know, but...Orochimaru had a biju?" She bit her lower lip. _Somewhere, I can find some answers to this big riddle that's become of me. The only thing I can do is start with what Sasuke told me. Itachi and Orochimaru._

She saw a definite ease of tension; apparently, talk about a dead man was of no consequence. "He did. The eight-headed snake." Kisame said. Deidara nodded. "Couldn't really use it, though. Didn't do much of anything." Deidara cut in.

"Except try to become immortal...yeah."

Sakura grabbed the hook at once. "Immortal? How?"

"A sort of body transfer process...yeah. He became too engrossed in it. Not to mention he was afraid of Itachi-san...yeah."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

**_"He's already inside of me, so if I die..."_**

**_"No, Sasuke! There has to be another way to save you!"_**

**_"Don't be stupid, Sakura!"_**

**_/ "Thank you, Sakura." In her lap was that face again. She could see her hands hovering over his eyes. They were trembling. She couldn't close her eyes for this. She knew. He flinched under her as her chakra severed the tendons in his eye socket and cut through the nerves where they connected to the backs of his eyes. She shuddered and swallowed down the bile in her throat as she carefully pulled the eyes out of his sockets, then stopped the bleeding stumps where they were severed. Sasuke moaned softly; she could sense his chakra fading slowly, along with his life._**

**_Now she turned her hands, covered with fresh blood, toward her own face._**

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Sakura-san?"

She jolted out of the memory with a violent tremor. She was almost sure she could still see bloodstains on her hands, which gripped the table's edge so tightly that her knuckles were red. They fell into her lap, numb from pressure. "Sorry," She said slowly. "Flashback..." Deidara nodded slowly. "You should probably go to bed...yeah. It's late...Or should I say early?" Kisame got up, and picked up his halberd. "I'm gonna go, too - I had watch last night." He excused himself. Sakura wondered if he'd had other reasons for departing that abruptly. She asked Deidara, "Does that mean you have watch tonight?" He nodded, standing and heading toward the hallway to her room, gesturing for her to follow.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

One hour later, Sakura was lying on her crisp futon, in her stiffly new room, and sleep again wouldn't come to her. Frustrated, she growled into the pillow. _Why am I not tired? I'm wide awake, but I feel it's got nothing to do with the incident during dinner...or breakfast, rather. _She sighed and rolled off the bed, getting to her bare feet. Deidara had managed to find for her a spare set of black, knee-long skintight shorts and an equally fitting sleeveless shirt like the one she had for her ANBU uniform. She scratched the back of her neck as she slid her shoji screen open as quietly as possible and made her way back into the living room-like area. Against one wall was a dark green couch, on which she took a seat.

_What will I be doing around here?_ She thought. _I wonder if there's anything around here that will keep me occupied...Other than a clearing in which to train._ Her thoughts went to her memories. _Sasuke...What should I do about Naruto...? About your brother?_

She was too engrossed in her ponderings to sense Deidara standing in the doorway, silently watching her. _You've complicated things quite a bit, Sakura-san...yeah._

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Whew. Getting Sakura to the Akatsuki location was a bitch like no other. I just had a sort of brain fart in that part, so I just decided to make a little time-jump so she was already there. I love being able to do that. With the ideas I have in mind, this is probably going to change from a Drama/Romance to a Romance/Tragedy...

Anyways...Next chapter: Kyuubi's Fate and the Lost Ring


	3. Ch3: Recapture

The following week that Sakura spent in the company of the Akatsuki went by much like the first day. Sakura found that it was easier for her to nap through the day in short intervals to avoid the nightmares of her lost past. Not to mention that at night she was simply unable to sleep - she'd be wide awake from sundown to sunrise. She even wondered if it had something to do with the mental damage she was starting to recover from.

The headquarters for Akatsuki usually remained empty, save herself and Deidara; Kisame vanished for most of the day and, often, Deidara for the night. When Sakura was alone she'd while the hours away sitting in the den area or outside training on the wooden platform beside the building. They were surrounded by dense forestry and Sakura was never able to guess exactly where they were. So she'd given up trying to figure out. (Deidara and Kisame just fixed her with an intense stare whenever she asked.) Deidara left halfway during each day and would return with food for Sakura, and what she didn't eat would be eaten by the other two in the evening.

They did have one visitor, however. It happened when Sakura had been, like on most mornings, going through her usual katana routines before starting with kunai drills. She'd turned to bring the sword in an uppercut and found herself face-to-face with the man Deidara explained later was Sasori. He would've looked like any other guy her age if he hadn't caught her sword with a huge scorpion-like tail that extended from behind him.

They'd stared at each other for a full minute before he held out his hand, in which was a paper bag. He'd let go of her sword, which she immediately sheathed and bowed in apology before taking the bag with a squeak of thanks. He simply nodded and with that, he turned and walked back into the building. Sakura recorded it as being the longest time she'd ever held her breath. The creepiest thing about that encounter was that she _still_ didn't know whether he was still there or had departed.

During late-night dinner/breakfasts the trio would sit in the same formation around the table as the first time they had: Kisame and Deidara next to each other with his halberd lying behind them and Sakura on the other side. She'd learned much of them, yet little at the same time. Deidara would often turn to his fascination with art until Kisame threatened to lop his head off with 'Samehada.' When they weren't arguing about what art was they were asking her endless questions about herself. In fact, she thought wryly, they only thing they probably didn't know was the number of hairs on her head. What little she knew she'd tell without a problem, and they answered what little they could.

She'd learned that Deidara had mouths in both of his hands, and that he manipulated clay. He demonstrated with an exploding puppet that took out seven trees on the edge of the training platform, and with a fully flight-capable bird. Kisame simply showed her the power of his sword Samehada by taking out eleven more trees; then Deidara, jealous that Kisame had downed more trees than he, went to the other side and blew up almost thirty trees.

Briefly she wondered if there was still smoke coiling skyward.

"Could you hand me the rice…yeah?" Deidara asked her. She slid the bowl across the table to him. He quickly snatched it and helped himself to it. It was the first time they'd had something _other_ than sushi (they still had some on the table for Kisame) and they were enjoying it while it lasted. This night it was just Sakura and Deidara, since Kisame hadn't returned from whatever he did during the day. Sakura drank down the broth of her ramen and set her bowl down, content. "That was a nice change from sushi." Deidara grinned and nodded.

"Deidara…" She said slowly, in the tone indicative of a serious question. Deidara paused mid-chew. "I was told that Orochimaru left Akatsuki because he was afraid of Itachi-san…Is that true?" Deidara took the opportunity to chew his food while thinking on his answer. Sakura waited patiently; she was used to this pattern. They always had to think their answers through to be certain that they didn't cross any invisible lines and accidentally disclose information that was confidential.

"That's what we think…yeah." He said, finally. "He was obsessed with immortality…yeah. We guess he wanted the power of the Sharingan to get stronger…and maybe the Sharingan could make it easier for his body-transfer process…yeah. Hey, do you know how to use it at all?" Sakura blinked and cocked an eyebrow. "No, I don't…Kakashi tried to explain it to me but I never had the opportunity to practice it…" Deidara laughed. "That's our fault…yeah?" She nodded and grinned.

_I never even thought about that…_ She pondered, _If I go back to Konoha I must ask Kakashi to teach me about the Sharingan. _Immediately she squashed a little voice in her head that screamed, _**Ask Itachi! **Hell no…He'd probably kill me. **He knows more than that old geezer! **_the inner voice whined. _Oh, shut up. We don't know how much of a trouble we're causing to these guys. And when he gets back with…_ She refused to say his name, for fear of choking up, _Kyuubi inside of him and…whatever becomes of…I'll be dismissed._

It never occurred to her exactly _what_ they would do with her once their task was complete. By dismissed, would she be sent off on her way or killed since she was no longer of use? She shuddered, but couldn't bring herself to ask Deidara. She didn't think she wanted to know the answer.

"I can't really picture Itachi-san teaching you…" Deidara said slowly, "But it wouldn't hurt to ask…yeah?"

The voice in the back of her head cheered, **_Hell yeah! I'm likin' this guy!_**

"He wouldn't want to teach me," :She blurted out quickly, "When he gets Naruto's Biju I'm going to be killed off anyways, aren't I?" Deidara looked at her, shocked. "Killed off…?" Then his expression grew very serious, almost deadly. "Contrary to popular belief, we Akatsuki do, in fact, have a sense of honor, Sakura-san." His voice was sharp, and the lack of 'yeah' at the end made him even scarier. Sakura trembled and looked down.

"I'm sorry, Deidara…It's just…" She faltered. Just what? That she was afraid of dying? Well, of course - who wants to die! But in the chaos of her life being here had given her some order, some semblance of a way of life. She didn't know anything else outside of it. What would she do if she went back to Konoha? To the people that she would cause pain because she would look into their eyes and not know their name when she should…She swallowed hard. _I don't want to go there. _She thought. _Everybody there's just a missing piece of the puzzle of my mind, and all the pieces have been thrown in the fire. _

Deidara still stared at her, but the intensity and anger had been replaced with a solemn curiosity. "You don't wanna go back to your village…yeah?" She bit her lip, thinking of the consequences of answering, then shook her head. Deidara nodded and they sat in the uncomfortable silence that followed. Sakura fought back a sudden welling of tears. _God, how weak is this?_ She scolded herself. _I know I can't stay here. When Itachi gets back he'll send me off or take me back…All I can do is either stay there or leave on my own. And I don't think I can bear staying there…_

Deidara finally cut the silence. "Do you have any special abilities?" He'd finished his rice and had cluttered their dirty bowls onto a corner of the table. Sakura furrowed her eyebrows. "Not that I remember." Deidara paused, then smacked his forehead. "Right…yeah."

"I was trained as a medic-nin, according to Kakashi. He said that I was trained by Tsunade."

Deidara blinked. A moment of silence. "As in the Sannin? Current Hokage Tsunade…yeah?" Not sure where he was going with this she simply nodded. To her surprise, he whistled. "Not bad…yeah. I should've known…Surprise surprise…yeah. No wonder you've got excellent chakra control…yeah. Then again, that would explain the mediocre taijutsu…Heh." He caught her chopstick easily before it embedded in his eye. "Point proven," she laughed.

Both Sakura and Deidara jumped as the outside shoji door was thrown open to reveal Kisame, sporting a large body over his shoulder. Sakura got to her feet. "What's wrong, Kisame?" She asked immediately. Kisame shook his head and pulled the body off his shoulder. Sakura gasped. _Itachi!_

Deidara walked over as Kisame set Itachi's prone body on the green couch. "What happened to him?" He asked in a low, urgent tone. Sakura didn't miss the glance in her direction. "I'll explain later," he replied. "Itachi-san's used up a lot of his chakra trying to get control of Kyuubi…"

"Damn…Nothing we can do…Hnh."

Sakura moved next to Deidara and looked down at Itachi's face. It had never occurred to her that Itachi could actually be weakened; that must've been what was the most surprising to her at the moment. Her honed senses saw red chakra radiating slowly off his skin. Her mind reeled. _This must mean Naruto's…_She bit her lip to force back another wave of tears. "He's losing control…" She whispered. Deidara and Kisame, who had been hastily whispering to each other, turned to stare at her. "Huh?" asked Kisame, confused.

Deidara's face took on an expression of understanding. "You can see it…yeah?" She nodded. "His chakra's being overcome by the Kyuubi's…" As if to emphasize the severity of her observation Itachi's whole body shuddered. All her other thoughts stopped. _If he remains unconscious he's going to die._

She moved toward his head and her face hovered over his. "Itachi…?" She whispered. Deidara and Kisame watched her, unable to find anything to do and unsure of what she planned to do. "Sakura?" Deidara queried, but she quickly waved a hand to silence him. "Itachi-san," she repeated, "You won't gain control over it if you remain unconscious." Tentatively, her hand gripped his shoulder. After being sure that he was unconscious, she quickly tugged open the dusty Akatsuki cloak. She focused her chakra into her palms and pressed them against his chest, forcing her chakra into his body.

For a moment she thought it hadn't worked and started pulling more to her hands when one of his hands flew up and caught her forearm in a grip tight enough that she actually heard the bone snap in half. She gasped at the pain. Kisame moved forward to pull her away.

She looked up to his face, and Itachi's eyes snapped open. She could see the Sharingan but the whites of his eyes were replaced with blood-red. She shivered in terror. _Kyuubi…_

"Where is Itachi?" She asked the conscience of the Kyuubi. She kept her eyes locked on his. Her response was a feral growl that turned the blood in her veins to ice. "Show me Itachi." She demanded, but her voice quivered at the end. Itachi's body sat up and hurled her across the room and she hit the wall with a sickening crunch. Before she even cried out the Kyuubi had moved across the room and pinned her there with a clawed hand, choking her.

"_Show me Itachi!_" She said again. She prayed her theory worked as she drew more chakra to her eyes.

_Show me Itachi._

For a brief moment she saw everything stop. Kisame, running toward her, had frozen in the air. Next to him, Deidara, pulling clay together into one of his exploding puppets. Then her vision swam and the sight before her eyes melted and re-formed itself. Now, the colors of her location was inverted - her hand before her had turned black.

_Holy hell…I did it!_

She pushed aside her brief moment of victory and took in her surroundings. There was nothing around her, but in front of her was an open gate, and on the ground…

"Itachi!"

She ran over and kneeled down beside the still form of the actual Itachi. _You'd better not die…_She thought to herself. _You killed Naruto for this, this is what you wanted, you fool!_ She rolled his body over so that he was facing her and did the same thing she'd done before; she sent a wave of chakra into the body through her hands. After several seconds of waiting, she pushed another wave of chakra into his form.

It seemed to be enough. Slowly, Itachi's eyes opened. He looked up at her, and she sighed, though out of relief or exasperation she wasn't sure. "I can't believe I'm doing this," She said, getting back to her feet. "How can I find the Kyuubi?" She asked him, watching him get slowly to his feet. Even in a state of near-unconsciousness his movements were smooth and lithe. _Bastard…_ She thought, _Take your time, there's only a crazed demon on the loose in here._

"I will find it." He said simply. Sakura growled and whirled around so her back was facing him. "Don't be humble," she snapped, "You're not that great. You have almost no chakra left, anyways - you'll just die." She almost slapped herself for insulting Itachi; he was the stronger one, and he wouldn't hold back if he wanted to kill her. She froze, expecting him to stab her or something.

"Focus the chakra into your eyes, and make your demand."

She nodded. Her mouth had gone dry. _He's actually helping me. He's helping me to help him. _

_**Hell yeah! This punk is gonna OWE us good!**_ The voice in her head screamed. She took a deep breath and did as he instructed. Her eyes shot open and she said into the silence, _"Show yourself, Kyuubi."_

Silence. "Wha…?"

"Use more chakra." Itachi said calmly, showing no hint of panic or irritation. In fact, he almost sounded amused. She turned and glared at him, just to make sure he wasn't smirking. "Sharingan is extremely complex and taxing for one unaccustomed to its use."

Now she _knew_ he was doing it to irritate her. She scoffed and turned her back to him again. She focused as much chakra as she safely could into her eyes, then opened them and said a second time, _"Show yourself, Kyuubi." _Again, silence. She almost stomped her foot. "I did _not _come here trying to save your ass, right after you kill off one of my former friends, just to get shown up like this!" She growled. She turned, intent on giving Itachi a piece of her mind, but found that rather than looking at her he was gazing intently to the side.

_Why you--! _Sakura raged. The nerve of this man!

Then their surroundings shook. And in front of Itachi materialized the monstrous form of the Kyuubi. Sakura instantly fell into a defensive stance, but was surprised to see the nine-tailed fox take a calm seat before them. "Well, look who's awake." The enormous demon said. "Just when that brat was beginning let me use my chakra…And his pink-haired little friend here to help you, even. I wouldn't have thought you the betraying sort…Sakura."

Sakura, stung by the words, looked away. "I…" She couldn't find a way to justify herself. Had she really betrayed him?

"You can't just go rampaging around like that!" She said, trying to veer away from the subject of her. Itachi had silently turned and faced her. "Lend me your chakra," he stated, devoid of all emotion. She stared incredulously at him. "For what?" She responded skeptically. Itachi jerked his head in the fox's direction. "Seal." Hesitantly, she nodded and turned her palms toward him, pouring the rest of her chakra to him. She reserved for herself just enough to return from the hypnosis-induced dimension. When she drew her hands away he turned and walked toward the gate.

"You can't seal me," the fox said matter-of-factly. "The Hokage had to sacrifice his life in order to seal me, and neither of you have enough chakra to perform a jutsu of that magnitude. What do you possibly think you can do?" Sakura looked to Itachi for an answer, but gaped.

He was standing on the other side of the gate, and had shut it on himself. The seal wasn't in place, but the door itself was difficult enough to shut that he'd used up a fair amount of the chakra just to shut it. He would have enough to open it back up. "I did not say the seal was intended for the Kyuubi." He said simply. Sakura gasped. "You…"

"What a turn of tables for the traitor," The fox said cheerfully. Sakura didn't even hear him. "You intended to let him take over the whole time…?" Itachi looked at her, his perfectly emotionless face still. "Leader will need the ring from her, Kyuubi. That is my price." The fox nodded and stood, stepping toward Sakura. She took a step back. "Ring?"

"Orochimaru's ring for your body…Very well." Sakura's feeling of shock and hurt changed into one of pure loathing. She turned to Itachi. "You…" He calmly lifted a hand and brushed a stray hair out of his face. She still glared at his red eyes through his contrasted black hand.

_Whoa…Wait a second._ Alarm bells exploded in her mind.

She fell to her knees, the shock finally overcoming her. "You -- I can't believe you, Itachi! I..." Her statement was replaced with a scream of painas the Kyuubi's mouth closed on her arm, the teeth ripping into her shoulder and fingers. Her free hand went to her kunai pouch and she swung her fist in the demon's direction. It jerked its head and shredded her arm, then its grip released before the kunai was embedded into its nose. She lurched forward, clutching the shredded remnant of her arm.She didn't have enough chakra left in her to heal it. The Kyuubi spit the blood out of its mouth, and a shiny, gleaming something landed on the ground in the puddle of blood with a clank.

_It's that ring!_

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

_Sakura shook her head and sat up after the explosion. The tears on her cheeks had burned away in the heat given off by the explosion. She couldn't see Sasuke anywhere. She blinked several times, trying to adjust her eyes - no, Sasuke's eyes. She opened her clenched fist and stared down at the object in her palm. "A ring..." She said slowly. What should she do with it? She looked at the kanji. "Kuchin...The Void." ...Orochimaru's...? If Sasuke needed me to keep this...What could make it so important? It's just a ring._

_Still..._

_Once again, she summoned more chakra to her right hand, forming it into a scalpel. "I'll put it where nobody can find it...Sasuke." A tear fell from her eyes and splattered on her forearm, where the point of her scalpel hovered for an apprehensive moment..._

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

"Ah...Thank you, Kyuubi. I would not have guessed the location without your assistance. I have no more need of you." Itachi's voice drew her out of the flashback. She looked up from her still position on the ground to look at him. Even though he was talking to the fox, his eyes were focused _on her_. As in _on her. _Her eyes widened. _What is he...What's he talking about?_ Apparently, the Kyuubi was thinking the same. "Is that your way of dismissing me, Uchiha Itachi?"

"No," he said, "This is my way of sealing you." Sakura grinned. Kyuubi was too busy basking in his own glory to see that Itachi had been forming seals under his cloak. By the time the Kyuubi's grin-like snarl was gone from his face, Itachi had completed the seals and suddenly Sakura found herself kneeling not next to Kyuubi but by Itachi himself. Kyuubi, likewise, had been swapped and was now behind the closed gate. "You traitorous--" Enraged, the demon fox lunged toward the gate. Itachi ran forward, forming more seals. His hands pressed against the closed gate just as the Kyuubi crashed into it--Sakura squeezed her eyes shut.

And was greeted by silence.

She opened her eyes to find that Itachi was now the only thing in front of her; the gate had vanished. Sealed away. She sighed. _Damnit...Now I'm too tired and relieved to be angry at him. _"You could have warned me, you know." She growled, clutching her arm. She looked down to the ring, paused, and picked it up in her good hand. Trembling, she rotated it so the kanji faced her guiltily in the inverted light. _The Void_. _What purpose does this ring serve?_ She looked up to Itachi again. _I have some questions for you when we're back...Itachi-**san**._

"The damage is only here. End your illusion now." Sakura nodded. "Alright." She got to her feet and shook her head. She focused the last of her chakra to her eyes. With them closed she didn't see the intense look the Uchiha gave her, observing her. Her eyes opened and she turned to him with a blank expression.

"What do I say to end this?"

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

_Wow,_ Sakura reflected later that night, _I hope I never, **ever** have to do that again. _She looked exasperatedly over to the wall, where a nice big caved-in spot marked the part she had caved in when Itachi/Kyuubi threw her. She hadn't budged from the couch since Deidara had placed her there. _I've gotta save up enough chakra to heal my broken arm...AND examine my back! Stupid fox..._ Her expression sombered. _Naruto...Are you really gone? _A sudden stab of pain overcame her chest. "Ah..." She groaned. "Must have broken a rib, too..." _Oh, who am I kidding... _A single tear slid down from her red eye. _It's my fault Naruto's dead...I'm sorry, Naruto...Should I have left Konoha at all? _Briefly she was overcome with a sense of anguish.

_I don't belong anywhere anymore._

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Several hours later, she opened her eyes to see Itachi sitting at the table a few feet away. He was watching her. Very intensely. Neither of them said anything for several minutes, but inside she was rambling senselessly. _Wonder what he plans to do with me now...Wait! I'm not needed anymore - is he getting ready to kill me? Aw, crap...Or maybe he's pissed off about those insults I threw at him; if I survive I better learn to watch my mouth! I really really hope he doesn't kill me...No, Deidara said that they're above that sort of barbaric behavior. Then again, what value could I be to anybody anymore? No, stay away from those kinds of thoughts. You were trained by Tsunade, Sakura! You're better at your focal point than any other medic-nin. Hey...How is it that I remember my training? Ah, it doesn't matter anymore - I've got it, so I'll use it. So long as I survive this encounter..._

"Where is the ring?" His voice was as smooth and calculating as ever. Just like the intense glare. Flawless. _Punk_. She thought idly.

_You would do well not to insult me while you are injured, Sakura-san. Now where is the ring?_

Sakura sat up abruptly. "Whoa...Itachi-san, the LAST thing I need is _you_ in my head. PLEASE stay out of my head."

Itachi's eyes narrowed and she stiffened. _There is enough empty space in your 'head' to house my own. _

_Urgh! Just stay out of my head, damnit!_

_The feeling is mutual, Sakura-san. I did not activate this, nor have I knowledge of stopping it._

"You've gotta be shitting me." She said, accidentally out loud rather then in her mind. She gasped and brought her good hand to her mouth. _Ack! _

The slightest, very slightest, of smirks graced Itachi's normally-pursed lips. "I do not consider myself the amusing sort." He said flatly. He stood and walked quietly over to her, kneeling down next to the couch in the same graceful way that he sat or stood or walked. _Eeeehhhh..._ Sakura mentally groaned, halway out of terror. Was this it? Was this where he'd end her life? She saw his hands move over her chest and saw his chakra gathering and manifesting there. She took a slow, deep breath and closed her eyes. She felt his hands press lightly on her arm and winced slightly when she felt the broken bone shift and moved back into formation, then molded itself back together again.

Her heart started pounding. He was healing her? The pain in her arm was replaced with a comforting warm sensation, and his hands moved over her again. "Turn over." He said. After a hesitant moment, she complied, and he pressed his hands against her back. The warmth could almost lull her to sleep if she wasn't still wary of Itachi. She'd realized by now that even though Akatsuki was a dangerous and extremely powerful organization, they were not like the corrupt criminals that shinobi faced on a daily basis. For a brief moment a smile flickered across her face. If she could go back in time and decide to stay in Konoha, she wouldn't do it. Even though Naruto was dead because of her...

No. She wouldn't have missed this to remake old friends. She didn't know if Kisame or Deidara considered her a friend, but she certainly wouldn't have known such contentness, be it here or in Konoha

"You may turn around now." When Sakura did, Itachi was still kneeling beside her, and seeing his face so close to hers made her stomach flip just a few times. It was her first real closeup view of him, so now she noted the prominent lines on his face and the expression of severity it gave him. She also notice the pursed line of his lips, but most of all she was drawn to his Sharingan eyes, so similar to her own. So similar to Sasuke's. Even though she could think of Sasuke as a brother, she couldn't bring herself to think of the man before her as a brother as well. He was as far from that in her mind asnight was from day.

"Ano...Thank you, Itachi." She said softly, tentatively. Itachi's response was an almost imperceptible nod. In a sudden, uncharacteristic gesture one of his hands gently, almost tenderly, laid against the side of her face. Stunned and terrified, Sakura didn't move. "When I first looked into your eyes..." He said. His voice had lowered but was still as perfectly even as ever. "All I saw was the echoing remnant of Sasuke." He let the silence hang between them for a few moments. His statement wasn't necessary, as most of his usually were, but he still thought it through carefully.

"Sasuke was not able to harness the power of the Sharingan on his first attempt. You..." His voice paused and his breath hovered in his lungs for a moment. "You are not my brother. And yet, you are stronger without theneedfor hatred. That, perhaps, is where I went wrong as his brother." Sakura inhaled slowly, realizing that her breath had hitched in her throat.

"Good night, Sakura."

He stood suddenly and turned so his cloaked back was facing her. She watched his back recede as he walked with deliberate slowness and grace to the wing that the rooms were. _You are made out to be a monster to the rest of the world..._ She thought. _I see now how mistaken they are. You, and your comrades, simply have goals they do not approve of, and you have a higher sense of honor. _In the intensity of the moment Sakura had forgotten of their presence in each other's minds; her words were not missed inside of Itachi's. She smiled. "Good night, Itachi."

Her cheek was still warm where his hand had rested.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

Don't worry, people - I don't intend to end it here. It almost sounds like it could be an end, but...no. I must write more! So...Sakura's able to forgive herself for killing Naruto (which she didn't do anyway, so...) and - oh, look at that - Itachi didn't take what he'd originally been there for: Orochimaru's ring! -gasp- What is the cause of her inability to sleep at night, anyways? And what will become of her presence among the Akatsuki?

That will be revealed in the next chapter.


	4. Ch4: Moonlight

By daybreak of the following day, all three Akatsuki members - Deidara, Kisame and Itachi - departed, leaving Sakura alone at the HQ. At first she'd thought they were leaving her for good, but Deidara quickly told her that it was a meeting with Leader regarding the Biju. He'd given her his usual grin, but his eyes strained, telling otherwise. Sakura had the distinct feeling that it was more about _her_ than anybody's Biju. Kisame merely nodded in his farewell, and Itachi gave her what Deidara explained before was 'The Look.' It was his way of greeting, scolding, praising, and acknowledging. He even went so far as to joke that he was like a drink machine in which somebody had put only one kind of beverage - No matter what button you press you'll get the same one every time.

She used the day to herself to finally explore the headquarters for the infamous organization. She made her way down to the empty dungeons, then an equally empty kitchen, (Go figure; they may be Akatsuki, but they're young single men through and through) a room intended as a dining room but was largely unused. The table had been turned into a sort of weapons display; scores of shuriken, kunai, katanas, bamboo dart chutes to shoot tranquilizers with, senbon needle, sickles, even a few crossbows. She also discovered a room filled with puppets - human puppets. She shut the door without looking back.

Then, still unable to sleep during the nights, she laid down and took a recuperating nap. It was blissfully free of nightmares and flashbacks for once, and she had a pleasant four-hour sleep before being awakened by the shutting shoji door of the main entrance down the widest hallway. She sat bolt upright, expecting the trio, and was slightly disappointed, but surprised to see that it was Sasori with her daytime meal. She grinned. "Hey, Sasori-san." He nodded and held upthe bag, just like last time. "Uh…Thanks. At least I didn't greet you with a sword in my hand this time…" She laughed nervously and was pleased that he managed a small chuckle himself.

This time he'd brought extra, intending to stay there with her for awhile. She was glad for his company, even if he was very solemn and talked very little. She learned that he, like Deidara, manipulated puppets, though they were long-lasting puppets made out of - as she'd thought, remembering the puppet room - human corpses. He had a similar view of art; something that's long-lasting.

"Art is a thing of beauty left long into the future." He had stated.

Sakura smiled and nodded. "Some things…are eternally beautiful. It's very rare, but if they last, they are that much greater." Sasori smiled gently. She remembered how Deidara explained his disrespect for other opinions. "Even so," she added, "There are also some things that can't stay forever, but I can't help but think they're beautiful, too." She looked to the large window overlooking the training area; the sun was lowering through the trees. "Like sunsets. They're brief, but they're artistically beautiful. And, if you're patient, you get to see another one."

She turned to see a peculiar expression on Sasori's face. He gave her another smile, a true one. "An interesting viewpoint, Sakura-san." He said. "It's a disappointment that human lives are so brief like that." He turned his gaze so that it was watching the setting sun. "Some…are beautiful." Sakura's smile widened, thinking of Naruto. "It's always a shame to see the beautiful ones fade. You want more than anything to keep them there, and even when they're gone a person tries to find something to imitate it…But it never matches the true beauty of that first sight." She looked over to see that Sasori had a tear trailing down his cheek. Softly, he said, "That, I believe, is why fine art should be eternal."

Sakura's eyes saddened. "But then, one must wonder if we'd really appreciate it if it wasn't fleeting."

Sasori's eyes slid shut as the sky darkened. "Because, if they were still here," she explained, "we wouldn't be able to cherish them, since they'd always be there."

-/-/-/-/-/-/

Sasori left after sundown. Sakura mustered up the courage to hug him briefly around the neck. He paused, stiff, and Sakura worried that she'd made a mistake, but then she felthis arm pull her close. "You are beautiful, Sakura," He said abruptly. She leaned back and looked at him, incredulous. "Very few people understand how we operate. We all left those villages for reasons that people cannot understand. They despise us for it. You are the first to show me otherwise. I expect that Deidara and Kisame recognize it in you as well. Perhaps, even Itachi will see that not all can be defeated by spite. Thank you, Sakura-san."

She blushed and smiled as he left.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

The next day was spent by herself. Completely. She trained throughout the morning and napped through the early afternoon. She tried using the senbon needles and the crossbow, but that ended disastrously with a bolt going completely through her hand by accident while she tried to load it. She didn't have so much trouble with the sickle, but she figured she'd need a lot of training in order to get a general idea of how to properly use it. Then, bored and exhausted, she wandered around more of the HQ, and was delighted to find the item of her fantasy: a shower.

After a blissful hour in the steaming room scrubbing her scalp raw and her skin until it was pink with newness, she stepped out and washed her loaned clothes, leaving them to dry by the window, donning her old ANBU uniform while she waited for them to dry. Finally, she took a kunai in her hand and held it in front of her face, looking ather hair in the reflection. _Well... Why not._ She spent another good long half-hour in front of a mirror mounted in the bathroom, imagining her possibilities. Her waist-length pink locks had a number on her heart, and she wanted to change it without eliminating all its length. Decided, she took the bottom half of it behind her ears and braided it into a tight queue. She used the kunai to cut the rest of it to that it just brushed her shoulders. She shortened the bangs and shook the remnants loose for good measure. She toyed idly with the long thin braid and looked at the new image in the mirror. _Not bad, Sakura. Not bad._

She returned to the window and felt her borrowed clothes. They were still slightly damp on the seams, but they felt dry enough to wear comfortably so she slipped into them and flopped down on the couch. _Wonder how much longer they'll be gone. It's boring here by myself._ She thought, tousling her hair and adapting to it lack of weight. She also wondered why it was that she could only sleep during the day. She would've thought longer on it, but her daytime exhaustion caught up to her, and she fell into a fitful sleep.

She awoke, like clockwork, just as the sky darkened into the deep blue-black of night. She looked around and saw, by both sight and lack of chakra signatures, that she was still by herself. She sighed sadly and ran her fingers through her hair. _I can only go so long without eating…Ugh. They have to have **some**thing._ She went to the kitchen and started with the fridge.

"Sushi!" She cried out in despair. "No more of it!" She snatched a water bottle and snapped the door shut, determined to find something OTHER than bloody sushi. They had it daily, for cripes' sakes! Was there no escaping the raw fish that was her doom? Sure it was good, but raw fish only satisfied for so long.

Satisfied with her brief moment of insane mental rambling, she turned to the cupboards. "I am praying to you right now, Naruto…Ramen God, please bless me with some dehydrated ramen!" She snapped open the first cupboard. Empty. "Damn." Next cupboard. "Nothing." Next cupboard…

Resigned to her fate, Sakura sat down at the table in the den, sushi plate in hand. She sighed dramatically and rested one elbow on the table and propped her chin on her palm, idly pushing the bites of stuffed fish around before picking one up. She glared at it.

"Thanks a lot, Naruto. I know I can _always_ count on you when I'm in need of something other than this cursed sushi." She put the piece in her mouth and chewed. She paused, letting the flavor fill her mouth…

"Kyah! Rotten!" She was struck with disbelief. "That's beyond messed up. This is just cruel and unusual now!" She walked back into the kitchen and tossed the sushi, plate and all into the trash, frustrated. She all but stomped back to the den anda ll but threw herselfdown onto the couch with a growl. "Now I'm just irritable. There's nothing to do. Nothing to do. Nothing to eat. How do they _live?_ Then again, they do have a goal. They go out on a daily basis and get to _do_ something. I need something to do. Very badly. But still…" She looked down. "I grown fond of this place. I still don't want to go to Konoha." The voice in her head chirped up.

_**Who's to say Akatsuki doesn't need a medic-nin?**_

"No. I am _not_ going to think of that. They are highly skilled shinobi, unlike me. I only have mediocre skills with everything except medic jutsus. No."

_**Who'd've saved Itachi, huh? Who'd've been able to SAVE him from the nine-tailed DEMON FOX?**_

"But I'm not _strong_ enough." She argued firmly.

_**There's a training field RIGHT THERE! And it's MISSIONS that's gonna make us stronger, not sitting around waiting for them to kick us out! And you didn't get into the ANBU Black Ops by sitting around, y'know.**_

"You have to be incredibly strong in order to join; that's an obvious. Stronger than ANBU.Look at Itachi; Kisame; Sasori; Deidara. They all have incredible abilities."

_**And yet, NONE of them know healing. Well, except Itachi, he seems to know some. In that, EVERYONE knows you're the strongest though! Were they trained by one of the legendary Sannin? That's a hell of a record! You transplanted your own eyes! Shit, you transplanted two SHARINGAN eyes! Without going blind!**_

"I don't…"

**_Hey...You think that's what they're talking about in that meeting with their leader?_**

"Why would they be talking about having me join?"

**_Well, they certainly looked at you significantly enough. Then again, that might be because we're just that gorgeous._**

"Ugh. You're the epitome of vanity!" She squashed the voice in her head down and cleared her thoughts.

_**Weeither ask and be accepted or denied,or we don't ask and have zero chance of staying. Do you wanna leave or not!**_

"I..." She sighed in defeat. She couldn't deny that she wanted desperately to stay, but...Desperately enough to ask to join Akatsuki?

-/-/-/-/-/-/

A/N - Wow...She didn't agree with herself that she was gorgeous! Is that a sign of MATURITY? -gasp-

-/-/-/-/-/-/

At daybreak the next day, Kisame and Itachi returned to the HQ; Deidara was not with them. Nevertheless, she was glad for their return, and even happier when she saw the bags of food they carried. She moved with them to the table and seated herself in her usual spot there facing Kisame. To her mild surprise Itachi took a seat beside her, rather than his sharkfaced comrade.

The meal turned out to be, as expected, sushi and rice (she was too hungry to complain), but Itachi pulled from his bag several skewers of dango, which he distributed to the others as well. He had sushi, but no rice. This meal, unlike most, was carried out in silence until their bowls had been emptied and removed. As Kisame took the dishes away, Itachi turned and fixed Sakura with 'the Look.' She tried to ignore it for a few seconds but a tingle in the back of her neck alerted her that this tactic would not pass Uchiha Itachi.

_Look at me._ He used the same hypnosis technique as he had when they first met. She tried to pull out of it to no avail, and her eyes locked on his. Itachi's voice was low and fixedly even, as always. "What am I preparing to do?" Sakura's brows furrowed. "What?"

No response. She shifted uncomfortably. "I don't know what you're talking about." She stated again.

"Use the Sharingan." _Oh... _How the hell was she supposed to do that? She didn't know how to use the Sharingan. Briefly she panicked, unsure of what to do and afraid of not following his order. _Well, when I used it last timeI had to use chakra to enforce my eyes._ So she did that, and it created a sort of visual hyperreality.

Colors and depth intensified. The surroundings were unmoving but Itachi's form seemed to vibrate, and she could see the faint chakra emanating from him. She saw that the area around his arm was more blurred than the rest, and seemed to 'buzz' with more activity. It was as though she could see the tenseness of the muscles in his arm through the air.

_More chakra_, Itachi's voice resounded in her head. She jumped but did as instructed and then the air itself filled with movement. She saw it moving toward her in waves and his blurred arm smeared across her vision toward her as well. An inanimate object was in the middle of the blur and she saw what looked like a senbon needle. _An attack! He's going to throw it!_ Her hand shot in front of her as the wave of movement pushed closer.

Then, just like that, the image was gone - her sight returned to normal. Her hand had moved in front of her, as had Itachi's, and what she had mistaken for a needle was actually a skewer from the meal's dango. It was caught in her clutched fist over her heart. It was only after several seconds of staring at the skewer that she realized exactly what had just happened. Her eyes widened.

"You could have killed me with this!" She cried, throwing it on the table and getting to her feet. "What if it hadn't worked? What if I hadn't seen it, then what?"

Itachi's eyes narrowed. "Then you would not have learned quickly enough to survive." He said, voice sharp but even. She faltered. _Learned?_ Uchiha Itachi had just taught her how to use the Sharingan to foresee an enemy's movements. She sank back down in her spot._Wow, do I feel sheepish..._

_And well you should._ Itachi got to his feet now, letting his cloak straighten out around him. Unlike Kisame, he almost never took it off - she had yet to see him without it. Sakura fisted her hands at her sides and refrained from continuing her half-panicked tirade. "W-Wait!" She nearly yelled. He stopped in the hallway frame but didn't turn toward her. "...Why did...Why did you do that?"

In the silence that followed she saw that his head lowered ever so slightly, as though pondering his answer. She was accustomed to a pause before a response, but never any gestures to indicate that he was actually thinking of what he was going to say. What does that mean? Was the answer that important to him? He turned and looked at her over his shoulder, the uncertainty gone and his usual mask in place so swiftly she fancied having imagined it in the first place. "To test your utsuwa."

He turned his back to her again, fully composed, and left her alone in the den.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

The following day turned out to be a day of sick mind-twisting games on Itachi's part. At random hours of the day he would approach Sakura and ask her the same thing he'd asked her the previous night. She would then feed chakra to her Sharingan and try to decipher the blurred movements of his punches and swings. What she didn't expect was that rather than a single attack he'd start a barrage of movements lasting ten minutes that overwhelmed her and resulted in both depleting her chakra and stamina, as well as earning a solid hit to the stomach or head for failure. Then, Itachi would turn his back to her and instrust her to force him to face her with the Sharingan's hypnosis ability.

This, unlike the movement prediction, was completely and utterly impossible for her. No matter how much chakra and focus she used, she could _never _get Itachi to budge. At all. It didn't help that he had practiced these abilities since he was a child and could easily block it no matter how much effort she put into it. The arrogant jerk even went so far as to turn his head and give her a questioning version of 'the Look' as though silently asking, 'Are you going todo it or not?' If it wasn't for the fact that he was actually helping her (in this demented and twisted way that she loathed with a passion) she would have given him a nice big piece of her mind on the spot after the sixth or so time trying to force him to face her.

And he did this the entire day without saying _a word_.

Needless to say, her nerves were chafed to the point where her shoulder might explode if she sat down on the couch too quickly...or accidentally swallow her tongue if she blinked too fast.

Finally, near midnight, Kisame returned from his daily routine with the food - Sushi, again, with dango- and Itachi said the first thing that whole entire day.

"Tomorrow we are going to a meeting with Leader." Sakura looked over at him, mildly surprised, and swallowed her bite of sushi. Her heart sankslightly. That meant more days of nothing to do..."How long will you two be gone this time?" She asked. "Last time, I was left for a day and a half without food, so if you're staying overlong, could you please leave some here? I mean, the sushi in the fridge had gone bad..." Kisame gave her a weird look, as though questioning her sanity. "It's true!" She defended. "It was the only thing in the whole kitchen, all the cupboards are empty and that sushi had to have been in there for a week or something, and there was nothing to eat..."

"What are you going on about?" Kisame cut in."You're coming with us."

Sakura blinked, confused. "…Oh…I am?" She turned to Itachi for denial. None. She looked back to Kisame. "Uh…May I ask why?" Kisame raised an eyebrow at Itachi but, receiving no response, spoke. "An issue regarding Orochimaru has caught Leader's interest." She recognized the finality in his tone as the usual sign that he couldn't disclose anymore to her. _Why in the world am I going to Leader?_ _Is it something to do with what happened with Itachi? Or Naruto…?_

Itachi had gotten to his feet. "We leave at daybreak." He said, and that was the end of it. He left Kisame and Sakura with their uneaten sushi that Sakura no longer felt the appetite to finish. _What did I do…? _She fretted.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

At two in the morning Sakura stepped out of the Akatsukiheadquarters and leapt as silently onto the roof as she was able. It wasn't so much the fact that she no longer slept at night, but that she felt too uncomfortable inside there where her thoughts could be heard by Itachi. She reflected on this statement. _Just how is he able to do that anyways? It's scary enough facing him down with his Sharingan during his little 'foresee my actions' game, but he can infiltrate my head as well? That's just odd. And creepier than all get out._

Sakura sighed, sat down on the slatted roof and hugged her knees to her chest. The night was cool but not chilly, and the sky unusually clear with a perfect view of the moon propped in the sky in front of her. She rested her head on her knees and looked at the moon solemnly. "We're not so different, you and I…" She said softly. Her pale skin reflected the white light it gave off, making everything around her seem that much darker. "The longer I stay where I am the darker and more mysterious my surroundings seem to become."

She didn't realize until a soft warm breath caressed her neck that she wasn't alone. She jolted but didn't turn to face whoever stood behind her. Out of habit now she fed some chakra to her Sharingan and the sense of hyperreality came to her again, and she saw the still Akatsuki cloak hovering over her, indicating that it was Itachi bent at the waist so that his head was a foot from her own. After all, he was the only one who didn't take his cloak off, ever. Plus, none of the others could hide their chakra so well.

_What am I preparing to do, Sakura?_ The familiar question earned the same reaction as all the times before; more chakra and the waves pressed toward her neck but he moved faster than her Sharingan could pick up this time, and he had one arm around her other shoulder on her throat and other on her chin.

_What am I preparing to do?_ He asked again. She swallowed hard - she hadn't caught it that time, and now he had her in a perfect hold to snap her neck. Her pulse sped up.

"Well…Y-You could break my neck…" Her soft, slightly-trembling voice vibrated against his palm, sending goosebumps down her back. He pulled her chin toward him slightly. _And why did you not stop me? _He continued. It was the first time he'd asked something other than what he was preparing to do. She faltered slightly. "I…I wasn't prepared, and I didn't move fast enough to block it." She stammered. Her voice dropped to a whisper.

_Now, what will you do to prevent it?_

_…Nothing._

_Why?_ His voice got sharper, and she knew that it would soon be followed by a hit to the head or shoulder or back or wherever he decided to remind her of her inferiority. She swallowed again and closed her eyes._ This…This is a hold I can't break out of. Nothing I could do would stop you. _She was waiting for him to give her the usual punch to the head for impertinence and failure. Instead, he turned her head more, prolonging her inevitable.

"You are right," he whispered into her ear. She shuddered. "I will not stop."

And he brushed his lips against hers.

For a moment all her senses exploded in shock and a small tremor traveled down her back She felt her heart leap into her throat and switch into overdrive while her thoughts grated to a screeching halt. He held that position for several more seconds before finally pulling his lips from hers. To her own shock, the sensation of their departure left them unnaturally cold.

_Do you know why I did that, Sakura? _His voice was soft in the recesses of her mind. She opened her eyes to stare into Itachi's, each a mirror image of the other's Sharingan. His eyes were intense, but not emotionless. However, the emotions buried there were so subtle she couldn't figure out what they were._ "I…I don't know…"_ She whispered.

Without warning he moved forward and brushed his lips against hers again, before pulling away and getting gracefully to his feet. When her eyes followed him up, his expression was stoic again. "Nor do I." He replied softly, before leaping off the roof and leaving Sakura by herself once again. All of a sudden the moon seemed even brighter, and its surroundings more mysterious and confusing.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/

Wow. Uhm...Yeah. Not much really to say about it, except that both are finally acknowledging (albeit denying and for the most part ignoring) the sense of standoffish affection each holds for the other: Sakura, for the people who've given her a feeling of stability where none existed during her brief stay in Konohagakure, and for somebody to (sort of) look up to; and Itachi, for a (sort-of) pupil that is a bit of a prodigy like himself, learning the abilities of the Sharingan as quickly as he himself had.

In the next Chapter: Meeting Leader and what he wants. (Hint: It's more than just Orochimaru's ring...) And also, Deidara's hands are tied (sort of).


	5. Ch5: Grace and Shame

Sakura was going mad. She was almost certain of it. For the entire day they were just jumping, jumping, running, jumping, running, running through endless forest. Had the entire continent turned into one? She was beginning to wonder. They _had _to be over two hundred miles from the Akatsuki headquarters by now. Two hundred miles of running with a mind that seemed to be running even faster. She still couldn't digest it.

Itachi - Uchiha Itachi - had kissed her!

All of this running was giving her the whole day to think about it. And it was all her mind and body were running on – thoughts. It was driving her mad, she was _certain_. What brought it on? What could possibly provoke Itachi to do such a thing? What could possibly compel her to _let_ him? Then again, she hadn't known what he was preparing to do. She hadn't known…How _could_ she have known? It was the _last_ thing she would have EVER expected of the Uchiha.

Her mind had been running like this along with her for two hundred miles. At least. She stayed a fair distance from both Itachi and Kisame, finding that it would only make her tenser running beside them.

When she wasn't stupidly wondering what could have led to Itachi's action the night before, she was fretting about what would transpire at this meeting with 'Leader.' She knew now for certain that they knew something about her that she apparently didn't. If they happened to stop tonight – which she hoped they would, feeling her thighs burning with overuse – that would be her only question. She promised herself solemnly as she leapt from branch to branch, so reminiscently of her return to Konoha, that she would not cooperate with them any longer until they told her what they needed her for now.

She just hoped she'd have the strength to open her mouth in front of Itachi without freezing when the time came to ask.

That morning, nothing seemed to change, but there was a new tenseness in the atmosphere, as though everybody were toeing on the edge of panic. She'd even caught Kisame giving her a sidelong glance that looked almost sympathetic. Something was wrong with _everybody_ this day!

The two Akatsuki ahead of her leapt down from the treetops to a clearing on the ground and she bounded down after them, eager to give her legs a brief rest. All three drew canteens and took long draughts. It was followed by a few minutes of shifty silence as both Itachi and Kisameunstrapped their straw hats from their backs and placed them on their heads. Sakura looked around idly. Should she cover her face as well?

Her casual outfit had been replaced once again by her ANBU uniform and with her she took her mask and hitai-ate, though she wore neither at the moment. She'd actually found the hitai-ate by accident; as she'd unhooked her vest to pull it around her torso the headband had fallen out from under one of the shoulders. She wondered how it'd been left under there, since she hadn't worn it with her when Deidara first "kidnapped" her from Konoha. She hadn't even known it was there when she'd gone _to_ Konoha. She pulled it out of a pocket now and brushed her finger along a scratch on the top half of it. _Wonder how this got here..._

There were still so many things about her past that she didn't know, she realized. And it hit her then that she may _never_ know how that scratch had been put on the hitai-ate. She may _never_ know what actually happened to Sasuke and Orochimaru. She may _never_ know. It made her feel so lost and detached at that moment.

"Let's go." Itachi said curtly. Kisame took his normal spot next to him and Sakura took hers, slightly behind them, quietly following. They were simply walking now, which meant that they were either close to their destination or about to encounter a village to stay in for the night. She was glad for this - not only were her eyes constantly drawing chakra from her reserves to remain active, but the extra energy used for running had drained her more than it would have without the Sharingan. This brought another question to mind: if she were to stop the chakra flow to her eyes would she be blinded? Or was there a way to deactivate it? This sparked an idea and she fingered her hitai-ate again.

_It couldn't hurt to test it out here..._

She held the protector in both hands tentatively, then lifted it and placed it over her eyes. _Hm. If I were to allow the Sharingan to feed on more chakra at a constant rate I think I'd be able to make things out through the hitai-ate without others seeing my eyes..._ She focused some of her remaining chakra to her eyes and her theory proved true: She couldn't see figures and shapes clearly, but they were solid enough that she'd know what was where and who was who.

She quickly pulled the forehead protector away from her face when Itachi's head turned to look at her through the silk strips adorning the edges - he must have sensed the focusing chakra. "Sorry," she stammered, "I was just, uhm, testing something..." She saw his eyes drop to the hitai-ate for a moment before facing forward again. She sighed and stuffed it back into its pocket. _I can't really try it until my chakra's restored. But I don't know if I'll have the opportunity to here..._

She shuddered suddenly and it took almost all her restraint to not smack her palm to her forehead. She'd completely forgotten about Itachi's ability to hear her thoughts! She spent the next minute cursing her ignorance, when out of nowhere the forest ended.

No dispersing of trees, no patches of blue sky as a warning...Nothing. It just ended. She paused, and looked back...then up. Where the trees should have towered over her was instead a wall of stone that stretched high above even the tallest trees on the other side. She saw also that where they had come through had no visible opening or doorway - solid stone faced her. Hesitantly, she touched it with her hand. It was solid. _How...What sort of genjutsu could this be? _If a jutsu of this caliber could be performed by Akatsuki, she despaired, how did she _possibly_ think she could be a benefit to its cause...whatever that was?

"How fortunate that you have come, Haruno Sakura." A cool, smooth voice said from behind her. Her breath hitched and she spun on her heels to face the speaker. He, like the others, wore an Akatsuki robe, and also had on one of the straw hats which was tilted low so she could only see his slightly-smiling mouth. Both Itachi and Kisame were no longer anywhere in sight and she couldn't sense their chakra nearby. She felt her blood turn to sludge in her veins and her mouth grew dry. Was this the 'Leader' that pulled the strings of Akatsuki?

His voice rang in her ears again. "Yours is a most unique situation. I never would have thought that Orochi would willingly seek out a vessel. However, it would make sense that he would select a most mediocre candidate in which to hide from the other Biju."

Sakura's mind was reeling by now. _Orochi? Biju? Mediocre candidate? Where does Orochi sound familiar...Isn't it one of the tailed demons, like Kyuubi? _She put two and phenomenal two together and it summed a dangerous four that made her jaw drop. _Of course...Orochi-maru; Snake Man. Kakashi didn't mention that he was a Jinchuuriki! _She forced these revelations to the back of her mind - there were more important matters standing right in front of her.

"You are...Leader?" She asked tentatively, and cursed the quiver in her voice. The man's smile widened ever so slightly. "That, I am," he replied most pleasantly, and he gestured for her to walk with him. With no other option, what else could she do? Her nerves responded enough to keep one foot moving in front of the other, and Leader walked side by side with her. She swallowed. "You're...you're going to take the Biju out of me, aren't you?"

She could no longer see any part of his face as he responded. "My, Sakura-chan. Straight to the important matters." She furrowed her brows and bit her lip nervously. _That's a yes._ How had she not known that it was inside her to begin with? She recalled the night when Itachi had nearly lost control of the Kyuubi. Did all the demons strive to gain control like that? And if so, why had she not had such problems if she had Orochi, the eight tailed snake demon, inside of her?

"Um...Leader-sama?" She asked timidly. The enigmatic man's only reponse was the soft tingle of the bell on his hat. She swallowed again. "Orochi...How could it be inside of me? I've had no seal placed to keep it within my body...And I've never encountered it trying to take over. Are you certain that I'm the Jinchuuriki?" The man turned his head slightly; she could see the faint smile on his face again. "Are you questioning my strength and ability to sense it, Sakura-chan?" The pleasant tone had no edge to it, but she felt she was toeing a dangerous line right then. She shook her head quickly, slmost frantically. "N-No, not that," she stuttered, "I just - When Itachi-san returned to the headquarters he was struggling to keep the Kyuubi under control...And I've had no such problems. I don't sense it anywhere inside of me..." Even now she mentally noted how long it'd been since she'd used an honorific in reference to Itachi. After the previous night, though, it seemed necessary to keep what was left of her sanity.

She hoped she would wake up soon.

"Do not worry about such trivial things at this time," the man said lightly. Sakura was quickly finding Leader to be a thousand times nicer and a thousand times more terrifying than she thought he would be. "Those can be answered at a later time. I hope to have your presence here for a while yet, as I too have many questions for you. Your eyes are its seal, surprisingly enough...Considering the circumstances that put them in that pretty little head of yours."

They fell into silence for the next few minutes, and Sakura took that opportunity to look around her. They were walking toward what looked like an average military fortress. There were stone walls and watch towers at each corner, and she could just see part of the structure attached to the stone wall of protection above it. It surprised her: she had actually been expecting something that looked a bit more...desolate, with heads of fallen Jinchuuriki posted every ten feet on the ground by the entrance to a dungeon-like cold iron building. How...off.

"Do you recall anything that happened during the battle in which your eyes were transplanted, Sakura-chan?" He asked in such a conversational tone that if not for the robe and hat he could pass off as any normal-sounding person asking about the next day's weather. She wondered what his face looked like. She opened her mouth to respond but caught herself and snapped it shut again. _Why the hell should I answer? _She silently argued. _He's planning to extract a demon from me and probably kill me in the process. I might as well make it difficult._ So, she kept her mouth stubbornly shut. Leader seemed to realize this and sighed. "Sakura-chan..."He said with a soft undertone of exasperation. "Stubborn defiance will not help you while I am here. Surely you realize that."

"I do, Leader-sama," She said, and was glad that her voice sounded more confident and sure than she felt. "Respectfully, though, I have difficulty with placing my trust in a man who is not answering my questions, either." She knew she would pay for that sort of rudeness later on and silently berated herself for it, but to her surprise Leader gave a delighted laugh. "Your tongue is as sharp as a serpent's, Sakura-chan," He said jovially, "You are more like Orochi than you realize." This statement made her suddenly feel more queasy inside than she'd ever felt before. _The worst part of that is he sounds so right...It would make more sense...The inability to sleep at night. The inability to hold my tongue. Am I really like the eight-tailed snake demon? Am I...like Orochimaru? _The idea made her shudder more violently than what the man keeping apace with her unusually slow stepswould do to her.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

Long after the sun went down she was greeted in her temporary room by Itachi; he seemed even more stoic than usual. He didn't say a word and she silently followed him out of her room - which was kept shut by chakra-resistant iron bars - and he led her down a single corridor and down several flights of stairs. His steps were quick and fluid, and Sakura trotted silently after. She was afraid to ask him anything, for fear of making him stop and turn and give her 'the Look,' which would seem scarier now, underground and in the semi-dark, than at the HQ. She was just beginning to wonder when they would pass through the core of the earth when the stairs ended and opened out to an enormous cavern that was well-reinforced with thick slabs of stone up the walls. It was almost as big as the fortress itself.

By the stairs were five other Akatsuki - two she recognized and three she didn't. Deidara gave her a casual (if not strained) grin beside Kisame, who gave her a small nod of acknowledgement. She knew at once something was wrong with the blond but she didn't dare ask at the moment. Two men she didn't know were standing slightly apart from the others - and each other. One looked demented, and the other seemed like he would agree with her if she said that aloud. The latter occasionally gave the taller one a disdainful look. Itachi stood apart from the others with his back to Sakura.

She didn't notice the third unfamiliar face until she saw a patch of green moving toward them from the other side of the cavern. She had to blink a few times to make certain she wasn't hallucinating - she could _swear_ that it was a cloaked plant moving toward them. It actually turned out to be right...sort of. It was a man whose face was white on one half and black on the other half. His eyes were a mottled yellow and his entire head was encased by an open venus flytrap. He gave her an intense, creepy once-over, then turned his gaze elsewhere. _What a crowd..._She thought, suppressing a shudder. _Sharkmen andpuppets and plants, oh my._

She felt that someone was missing..._Puppets...Sasori! Wonder where he's at...Maybe he's late or has some kind of mission?_

That would bring the total number of Akatsuki to eight, counting Leader. Is that it? The infamous Akatsuki crime organization was eight people? This brought yet another question. _There's eight Akatsuki...whose goal seem to be to capture all the Biju. There are nine Biju. What will they do with an extra?_

"Hey, Sakura." She smiled happily as Deidara moved toward her. What she really wanted to do was hug him until she snapped his neck or suffocated him, but seeing him would have to suffice. "Long time no see...yeah." She almost laughed - she'd missed his odd sentence modifiers for too long. "It's been boring without you, Deidara." She said, a grin still plastered on her face. She couldn't help it - Deidara was the lightest and the easiest to get along with among the Akatsuki she knew. "How's it been?" He shrugged a shouler awkwardly. "Not very good...yeah. Lost both of my arms."

Sakura gaped. "B...Both of your arms are gone?" She struggled to keep her voice as low as possible to avoid attention.

Deidara nodded like it was no big thing. She could tell he was trying to lighten the subject. "Well, the mission was a failure...yeah. Kakashi caught me off guard...twice...yeah." Sakura's stomach flipped uncomfortably at the mention of her former teacher's name. "Made my arm vanish with his Sharingan...then made one of my puppets blow up prematurely...yeah. And Sasori..." Sakura's eyes widened. _No...Not Sasori..._ But as she saw the solemn expression on Deidara's face she knew her fears were true. She remembered the smile on his face, the tear that trailed down his cheek...

Deidara sighed. "Like anything that is left for the future as a thing of eternal beauty... He got killed straight off!" Sakura shook her head with an expression that was part sorrow, part exasperation. "Have to have the last word, eh, Deidara?"She said with a somewhat wry grin on her face.

_How unfair for you, Sasori..._Deidara looked at her curiously. "He told me something for you...yeah." Her eyes, which had drifted to the ground, shot back up to the blond's visible eye. "For me?"

He nodded and said, "He said to tell you that he was able to see the sunset a second time...yeah."

Several long moments passed in an uncomfortable but not unwelcome silence before Sakura spoke again. "Deidara...What is going to happen?" For the first time the man avoided her gaze, looking fixedly into the darkness of the cavern. She didn't receive an answer for a long time, and when she slowly turned away from him he didn't try to stop her. Her eyes were turned such that Deidara couldn't see them when he turned his gaze to her at last. "He's going to do what he did to Naruto...isn't he..." Her voice was soft, and it nearly broke near the end.

Deidara wanted to embrace her and apologize, but he couldn't do so in the presence of so many Akatsuki. He didn't trust himself to speak, so he still didn't respond.

With a sudden loud poof all the others were gone, and Sakura was standing alone by the stairs. She whirled around to look for the others but her vision was obstructed by the lone form of Leader. His casual, light attitude from earlier in the day was completely gone, and his face was so severe and dark, accented by the shadows of the dim lighting, that a tremor raced through her body and she briefly froze. His hands were held up under his cloak and she heard whispered words, before her legs gave out beneath her and her knees contacted the marble tile floor with a painful crack. However, it wasn't out of fear - Leader had performed some type of jutsu that stopped all the nerve responses in her body. _Wh...What is he doing! I can't move!_

"I'm afraid that this is necessary, Sakura-chan." He said slowly as he walked toward her. "Torture is only used in the most extreme of circumstances, and you've been compliant thus far. I'm afraid this is now an eye-for-an-eye game, Sakura-chan. You give me what I want without struggle, and I will tell you what you want to know." He picked her limp body up bridal-style in his arms and walked toward the dark center of the cavern. He didn't add the silent, _before I kill you,_ at the end of his statement.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

_A shinobi's efficiency is mirrored by his grace. One is more graceful with killing intent in mind than anything else. It is the grace of the Missing-nin that is the most prominent. With no allegiance to a Village a Missing-nin learns from his surroundings and gains first familiarity, then grace. Missing-nin are open to all forms of taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu...all fighting forms. We are not restricted to the secrets of just one village's jutsus. With all the options of the continent available the power has more space to expand - more grace to achieve. If there is a possible limit to true,perfect grace, it is achieved by the Akatsuki._

_His grace was like a serpent's: deliberate, calculated, deadly. Kisame's like that of a shark; powerful and swift to kill. Deidara, the fluidity of artistic motion. But Sakura..._

_The kunoichi had the potential; he would not deny it. She had the grace granted her by the healing arts. Her grace, unlike his, reminded him of a panther: natural, languid grace. Easy and casual in nature, belying the immense strength underneath. The strength provided by the demon inside of her. A panther with killing intent is so, so very graceful. Beautiful. But of killing intent, she had none, despite being a Jinchuuriki. That, perhaps, is why she contained Orochi so well without even noticing its presence - they complemented each other such that combined would create, without doubt, a flawless killer. If the desire, or even the intent, to kill was awakened inside of her, the beauty and grace would be...indescribable. True killing perfection._

_This, perhaps, is what draws us Jinchuuriki to her so intensely. Perfection is all but impossible for us, for we are all killers by nature before the demon is fused with our bodies to use as its vessel. Throughout our lives we are trained as one thing - efficient killing machines. Therefore, that is what we are, with or without the influence of the Biju within some of us. To see such...balance within a Jinchuuriki is foreign and astounding - we do not lose control of our Biju, but at the least we are prone to suffering psychological damage during the process of bringing a demon under our control. The fact that she wasn't even aware of the presence of the eight-tailed snake shows that she was either powerful enough to contain it with ease and without any thought of it, lost the memory of containing it, or the demon willingly settled within her as its vessel. Regardless of what the answer is, Leader, and we Akatsuki, are eager to discover a way to control our own Biju with such ease._

_He, Itachi, suspected that the cause for the demon's lack of resistance was in part directly related to Sakura's lack of killing intent. After all, a demon's life is sustained by the chakra within its container. _

He watched her as her legs gave out beneath her and she fell to her knees on the ground. He watched from his high pedestal in the dark, out of sight. He watched as Leader approached them with her paralyzed form in his arms. He watched as he set her prone body down on the cold obsidian ground before him and the rest of the Akatsuki, all standing in their respective places atop the enormous hand statues in the center of the cavern.

It was he who would perform the genjutsu to bring the Biju before them. It was he and Leader who would extract Orochi from Haruno Sakura. It was Leader who would end her life. What Leader would do with this demon, he did not know, or care.

_What a shame..._

-/-/-/-/-/-/

I'm afraid this'll be my last update for about a week and a half, as I'm being dragged with my mother -twitch- on a trip to San Diego, which will bring me away from the computer. Sorry to all you guys who've been keeping up with my updates every three or so days. XP

-Merrik

Applesauce Barbeque Cracker! Sorry, had to make my 4000-word limit or I would go mad. 0.o


	6. Ch6: False Fight, True Pain

A/N: I'm sorry that this chapter took about a week longer that I said it would, everybody. After the trip to San Diego, I've spent most of that time in the hospital where my mother currently is. I apologize for the delay in posting this chapter, and as a forewarning I have to add that some of the next few chapters might also be delayed because of issues with the family.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

Even before her eyes were open Sakura knew she was inside her mind. She didn't care to know how she'd been brought in here, but she had a hunch that - if she kept her eyes shut - would remain just a hunch. She didn't want to think that he would do this to her. She'd like to think that Itachi was on her side. That he wouldn't kill her for a demon that she hadn't even known the presence of. That he and the Akatsuki would at least let her live.

She liked to hold onto her hopeless fantasies. That's what kept her sane, at least. She didn't care that things never went the way she hoped they would. Even though it always hurt in the end, it gave her motivation. It gave her hope. When one hope was obliterated, she'd replace it with another one. That's how she'd gotten this far. That's how she'd even gotten to her feet when she first awoke without her memories. She thought of the few memories she could cling to and still call her past - considering their unpleasantness, it was a wonder she'd lived this long. Whenever she did die (which could be sooner than she hoped) she could at least say she survived an encounter with Orochimaru and Itachi of the Akatsuki. She could even say she survived her encounter with the organization's leader…well, her _first_ encounter, anyways.

"Stand up, Sakura." Just like that, her hopes were dashed, tossed into the junkyard with all her other fanciful dreams. She felt her heart jump, then sink. So this was it. This is how she would die. She would die so Leader can get his precious eight-tailed snake. Even with her ridiculous inner optimism she could find no other hope to cling to. This was the end of it, here and now.

"What, Itachi-san?" She spat, feeling a sudden burst of spite. "Time to extract the gold and dispose of the stone it's buried in?" She was answered with silence, and scoffed. Of course she won't get a response out of this Uchiha. She forced back a wave of despair as her memory pulled out of her the brief moments of the Itachi she'd seen underneath that stoic poker-faced glare that was his constant expression. In those moments she could tell for certain that Itachi hid more than just feeling behind those Sharingan eyes. He'd first revealed it when he mentioned his brother, something she doubted he'd ever done before. And she saw it when they were together on the rooftop under the moonlight.

_Underneath the underneath._ A voice that sounded familiar but that she didn't recognize reverberated inside of her. _Only there will you find the answer_.

Just as she'd hoped it wouldn't be, Sakura opened her eyes to the inverted world of Itachi's genjutsu. However, there was nothing. Nothing anywhere around them. It was just Itachi and her. The only thing besides them and the pitch-black surroundings was the blood-red moon hovering behind Itachi above his shoulder. Something struck her as odd about Itachi's appearance, other than the fact that his black body blended into the background; and that the deadly white gleam of the Sharingan seemed to pierce straight into her soul with its intensity. His clothes and his skin were all black, so that only faint outlines of him were visible. He looked even deadlier now than he did on their first encounter, complete with a white-handled katana in the grip of his right hand as though it were an extension of his own arm.

_True killing perfection._

"Bring forth the eight-tailed serpent." He said in a stoic monotone that sent a ripple of anticipation down Sakura's spine. _Underneath the underneath._ She thought again. She shook her head. "I don't know how to do that. You know that." His brows furrowed ever so slightly - Sakura couldn't help but focus intently on his face, his eyes.

"Where have you hidden it, Sakura?" His voice was softer, yet sharper.

"I don't know!" So was hers.

An instant later a force of impact made her fall back slightly, then forward, hunch over. Blood began to pool in her mouth. She coughed, and it spattered white over Itachi's robe. When he drew the katana out of her stomach, she lurched forward but forced herself not to fall against him. She hadn't even seen him move…

Despite being under the influence of genjutsu, the pain was all too real. She gasped for air and tried to stand upright. Itachi stood calmly before her with his sword still in his hand. Her blood dripped from the steel edge to the black ground with a small splattering sound.

"I can make you live through this for days, Sakura, and you won't die from the pain." His expression was unreadable but the straight line that normally formed his mouth was curved upward in the corners, forming a smirk that ignited true fear inside her.

_He's retreated into himself,_ she realized, wiping off the blood that dribbled down her chin. _This can't be Itachi doing this._

'Wh…Why don't you just take the demon out of me, Itachi?" She asked, choking briefly on her own blood. "Why are you doing this?"

Itachi's eyes, for the briefest moment, narrowed. The demented grin widened. "To see what you're capable of."

-/-/-/-/-/-/

It took every ounce of restraint from Deidara to remain stationary on his pedestal over Sakura, Itachi and Leader. He could only imagine what Itachi was doing to her mind. He understood the technique well enough - Kisame explained the shell of the human that Itachi's Kyuubi had been extracted from. He'd seen it with his own eyes previously.

After the procedure the Jinchuuriki was nothing but a weeping mess on the ground, and after the extraction he looks as though his very soul has been taken from him. She'd lay on the ground, eyes open, staring into nothing. Staring into the empty void of her mind, surrounded by her own nightmares. Deidara shuddered at the thought of Sakura, such a lively woman, turning into that. Turning into a lifeless doll.

It was too much, however, to hope that she would survive.

Among the Akatsuki, death is to be expected. They are not strangers of it - even now, Deidara wasn't bothered by Sasori's death. Rather, it bothered the Akatsuki that someone _could_ kill him. Perhaps Sakura bothered them in a different way. She had a different impact on them than the other Jinchuuriki they'd caught before. Deidara knew this to be true; he'd seen the changes in Kisame and Sasori, especially Sasori, before he was killed.

Sasori had looked up at him in his last moments, a torn half-human, half-doll mass on the ground; his expression, however, showed none of the subtle anguish and despair that Deidara was accustomed to. As Deidara had leaned down to pry the Akatsuki ring from his left thumb, Sasori grabbed his wrist firmly but not painfully.

"Deidara…Please tell Sakura-san…Please tell her that I was able to s-see the sunset a second t-time," When Deidara looked into his eyes he saw only a peaceful expression. He could do nothing more than nod. It was the calmest he'd ever seen the puppet master in his entire existence among the Akatsuki. There was a gentle smile on Sasori's lips as he died, and Deidara could almost swear in that moment that an angelic impression of Sakura hovered over his lifeless form when he passed on.

Sakura's enigmatic presence had even affected Itachi, whom for the longest time Deidara suspected was defected in the emotive department. And yeah, he was well aware that a rule to being a shinobi was to have no feeling, but…Itachi took it a little far, in his opinion. True, Itachi had his own dark story leading to his defection from his Village, but so did Kisame, and himself and everyone else who joined the Akatsuki. Still…Seeing the subtle but definite changes in Itachi's attitude did not pass by Deidara's keen observation. Sakura made them all feel more comfortable, more at ease with themselves. And it was because she cared.

Hers was a welcome presence to them all, whether they believed and admitted so - like himself - or not, like Itachi and Kisame. And that made her dangerous.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

He was moving too fast for her to keep up. The minute she detected a kick and moved to block it she was bombarded with a swing-around back kick with the other leg followed by a sword thrust. She only caught two of every three hits, and the ones missed were aimed with his sword arm. Her chakra reserves were strong, but draining fast. There was no way she could keep up like this for more than fifteen minutes. She didn't think she could even continue for another five.

Agony bloomed from her stomach, burning every nerve on her person with waves of white-hot, blistering pain. Blood flowed freely from a gaping hole in her uniform, staining the color-inverted material an aquatic blue. The color distortion not only was disturbing but made it nearly impossible to see Itachi as he darted in and out of sight, often to surprise her from behind or the side with another series of slashes and swings. He had both his own immense chakra and the reserves of the Biju to rely on, where Sakura now was relying purely on her own Sharingan's unperfected abilities. She felt as thought she were fighting for her life, even though it was all only a setup in her mind, which was now a cage to which only Itachi had the key.

She flicked her wrist and drew forth several senbon needles from under her vambrace and threw them in his direction, desperate for a distraction to re-collect herself before his next barrage of attacks. As his sword flew up to bat them away she focused more than the usual amount of chakra needed to her eyes. Her sight heightened just in time to see him moving toward her, lifting his katana in an uppercut that would hit her chin and cut the bottom half of her face open. She backflipped and kicked the sword out of his hand in the process before landing back on her feet, only to fold forward on her hands and knees. She bit back a cry of pain and saw more discolored blood dripping steadily from her torso.

Wincing, she lifted one hand to her breast and pulled out the kunai embedded there. _He used my own distraction against me, so that I didn't see his kunai among all the senbon…Damnit. I can't go on like this…_ She could feel the cold embrace of Death hovering outside of her prison, wanting to welcome her but unable to reach her. Itachi wouldn't give her that pleasure.

Her vision swam with unending waves of pain as Itachi slowly walked toward her. She refused to lift her gaze to him now - not on her knees. The top of her vision became obstructed by the hem of his cloak, then by the collar as he bent down so his face was only a few inches above hers. She still didn't look up until he lifted her chin with the flat side of a kunai. His smoldering white-hot gaze was scornful, so much so that she couldn't look into them for more than a few seconds before tearing her eyes from his to stare dully at his mouth, blushing in humiliation. She didn't understand why the sudden feeling of shame overcame her all of a sudden. It almost felt…like she'd disappointed him, somehow.

_What do I care? _She argued against herself. _He never wanted anything from me. All the Akatsuki need is the demon inside of me._

_**Then let's give it to them with both barrels!**_

_I can't…I don't know how._

_**Find it! Kill this bastard, and Leader too!**_

"_If you wish to kill me…hate me, detest me, and survive in an unsightly way."_

She felt a brief surge of energy come to her body but before she could draw on it, Itachi had moved; he was back to his feet and he kicked her violently into the air. She summoned as much chakra as possible and centered it in her feet, righting herself and using the momentum the turn her flailing fall into a jump. She landed unsteadily on her feet several meters away from Itachi. Wincing from a particularly painful wave of agony, she waited for an attack that didn't come. Her Sharingan saw him running toward her - No weapons were drawn, but the change in his eyes scared her more than a shower of kunai. His eyes were bloodshot, and when a sudden grin came to his face she could see the points of fangs.

_Survive…In an unsightly way._

The last thing Sakura could recall before everything around her turned black was the sudden feeling of warmth enveloping her neck, then a brief taste of acid-burned flesh in her mouth.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

Everybody collectively tensed, including Deidara, when the kunoichi's chakra started to pulsate. A faint pink aura surrounded Sakura's prone form, but as the Akatsuki watched it was slowly growing and being overcome with blended red and purple chakra that made the small hairs on Deidara's neck stand on end. He could feel the heat of anger blistering his skin from the chakra emanating from her body. He resisted the urge to chew his lip - whatever Itachi was doing to her mentally, it was awakening a desire in her to fight back…physically.

However, the urge to chew his lip turned into a full-blown urge to shout out, even though Sakura was unconscious, as Itachi's legs crumpled underneath him so that he was slightly bent over Sakura's body. Red chakra permeated the air around him and Deidara shuddered visibly as three long stripes etched themselves into Itachi's cheek. Leader turned his face upward, having taken off the hat when he placed Sakura on the ground, and nodded. It was his signal.

The other Akatsuki, led by Kisame at the fore of the group, leapt off of the statues of the two upraised hands in the center of the cavern and surrounded Itachi and Sakura. This had happened once before, and they were prepared for it this time. Deidara's gaze turned briefly to the two statues. They were in the shape of two hands; a finger was designated to each Akatsuki in reference to their place among the organization. And to each member's position on the statue was the position of the ring on his hand. The progression of drawing out this demon was too dangerous for his liking - he looked down as another surge of chakra washed over him. _This is gonna get ugly…yeah._

Kisame looked at him briefly, Samehada in his grip. They knew Itachi more than the others, and surely the sight of Itachi in a weakened state was as disturbing to him as it was to Deidara. If worse came to worst, the Akatsuki would have to end Itachi's life, and Sakura's. Leader would be on the sidelines, of course, drawing the Biju out in an effort to spare the demons for future use. That's how it was supposed to go. Still…it unnerved him.

These, after all, were the two strongest of the Biju…And they didn't know if Sakura even had any control over hers.

And…well, it didn't exactly help that Deidara was now missing both of his arms, therefore losing his ability to fight with either his clay or his jutsus.

_Well…_ He thought grimly as Sakura's eyes opened, revealing not the Sharingan but violent purple slitted irises, _I get to practice being quick on my feet…yeah._

-/-/-/-/-/-/

Haruno Sakura felt like she could sleep like this for eternity. In fact, she wondered if she was dead; she had the strange sensation of sleeping in an empty place but still aware of things around her. Not that it really helped - she was surrounded by blackness on all sides. The only thing that told her she wasn't really alone (though still possibly dead) was the sound of someone…or some_thing_ whispering in her ear, though it was so soft she couldn't quite make out the words. As though whatever was speaking was doing so from a long distance.

The voice seemed…devious. And sneaky.

Sakura tried to remember how she'd gotten here in the first place. She could recall fighting, definitely. With Itachi. The idea that maybe she'd finally died by his hands made her shudder.

_I can't have…No…No!_ She fought back a wave of anguish. _It's too unfair!_ She cried to herself. _How did I deserve this?_

_**Hush now, little one. Don't be so loud.**_

_What…What do you want?_

_**You're safe here, Pretty.**_ Sakura shivered at the condescending tone. It just wasn't right.

_Where am I? _She asked timidly. _Am…Am I dead? _Her voice quivered when she said it. She'd give anything up at that moment to still be alive if she was. This couldn't be Heaven…And it sure as hell couldn't be…well, hell.

_**Not at all, Pretty. We are more alive now than we've ever been.**_

…_We? Alive? _A sudden dreading sensation dropped a brick into her stomach. _…O-Orochi?_

_No! _She screamed. _Give me back my body! Whatever you're doing, stop!_

_**The Uchiha brat tried to kill you,**_ the inner voice reasoned calmly, even over her screams for help and shrieked threats of regaining control. **_There was no more chakra in you, so I saved us, Pretty._**

The girl growled. _Don't call me that! Get out!_

_**No.**_

Such a blunt, simple response stopped her tirade completely, making her fall utterly silent. What was going on? Was she talking to herself? Was she muttering blindly to herself in the corner of a prison cell designated for shinobi who'd lost their minds? If there was a plea for insanity for overloading, she certainly should qualify for it.

She preferred the idea of being dead.

She felt a great shuddering around her. **_Alas,_** the eight-tailed snake said softly, **_What a taste of power I received…That will serve me in the future. But for now, I must depart your human world. Recover, and we shall destroy the Uchiha brat, and his clan._**

_Wait! What? Just like that, you're leaving?_

_**Alone I cannot stand up to the entire Akatsuki. You need to host my body for our power to truly overwhelm them.**_

_And just what makes you think I'll help you? I'm not killing the Akatsuki for anything!_

_**If you do not kill them, they will kill you, and take me from you.**_

_You say that like it's a bad thing for me._

_**You cannot even stand up to one of the Akatsuki. How can you stand up to all of them without my assistance?**_

_No. I'm not letting you out again. Ever! Go back to where you belong!_

_**I can give you back your memory, Pretty. **_The voice crooned, even as it faded into the shapeless shadows. **_Wouldn't you like to know what happened to you? …To Sasuke-kun?_**

-/-/-/-/-/

Just like that, Sakura was left in darkness again. The voice of Orochi was gone, and now she was alone, really truly alone. She'd been fighting with Itachi, she knew. She should have died. Perhaps she did. It would be a blessing at this moment. But there was no Pearly Gates to walk through. No heavenly embrace to release her of all her pains. In fact, she felt more pain now, except now the pain was emotional.

_Sasuke-kun…_

"_Sakura…You're annoying."_

"_Sakura…Thank you."_

"_Sakura…Take my eyes."_

_Sakura…_

She cried. She didn't know how long. It might have been a minute. It might have been an hour. She didn't care. The only thing she heard was Sasuke's voice calling her name and the sound of her sobs. _Please…Somebody, just end this…_

_Sakura…_

_Sakura…_

"Sakura…"

With a twist of perspective, Sakura felt herself proverbially thrown back into her own body. With it came an all new level of pain that was all too physical. She groaned softly, feeling more tears coming to her stinging eyes. "Nh…Gods…Wha…"

"Don't talk," A deep, smooth voice admonished softly. "You're badly injured…yeah. Put up quite a fight, Sakura-chan…yeah." The soft chuckle helped ease her nerves; at the familiar sound of Sakura-_chan_, she'd thought for a moment that she'd woken to Leader. The fact that it was Deidara was probably the biggest relief she'd ever felt in her nineteen years, memory or no.

_**I can give you back your memory, Pretty.**_

Wincing painfully, she managed to open one eye to look at the blond shinobi. "Deidara…" She whispered. His characteristic grin came to his face as he looked down at her. "Don't worry, Sakura-chan… The medics are gonna fix you up…yeah." Sakura nodded imperceptibly - now that she was conscious, the desire to sleep overcame her chakra-drained, beaten body. How it became so through a genjutsu, she couldn't interpret, nor did she care at that moment. She closed her eye again, trembling with the outrageous pain the simple action brought her. She must have gotten poison in her eyes or something for it to hurt that badly.

_-/-/-/-/-/_

The next time Sakura's eyes opened, it took her several seconds to realize who and where she was. _I remember the genjutsu…Then, I woke up at some time after it…Injured. Pain. How did I get injured? It was only an illusion…Wasn't it?_ She rolled to her side, with much difficulty, and gently swung her legs over so her feet were on bare wood floor. She noted briefly that she'd been changed into baggy drawstring pants and a loose sleeveless shirt, both of which she recognized to be made for medical patients. Her ANBU attire was nowhere in sight.

She made to stand up but pain exploded in her stomach and legs, causing her to fall back onto the futon with a gasp. Bewildered, she lifted up her shirt to see what sort of injury would cause her such pain. Her entire torso was tightly wrapped in bandages - looked like she wouldn't know for a while. She took several deep breaths, letting the adrenaline from the pain leave her body, then carefully brought herself to a stand, teeth gritted.

Once she was upright on her feet, the pain in her stomach abated slightly, but her knees burned with strain. She ignored it to the best of her abilities and focused instead on scanning her surroundings for any familiar chakra signatures. All she wanted was to back to the _other_ headquarters and sleep. The closest one brought a smile to her face, and she slowly made her way to the door, intent on following it.

In the doorway, she leaned on the frame, panting slightly. The chakra it took to locate Deidara's familiar signature had made her, if possible, even more exhausted. She made a note to herself that she'd need at least to days to recover all her lost chakra. Where it had all gone, she could only guess. She'd ask Deidara when she found him.

Slowly, she made her way down the hall in the direction of the muted chakra source, using the wall for support when she rounded the corner. She took a slow, deep breath, and scanned her surroundings again. The minute amount of chakra left was drained, but it was enough. Weary but determined, she laboriously placed on foot in front of the other, closing the distance between Deidara and herself. After an impossibly long walk she found the open shoji door that indicated the location of her target. Now breathing heavily, she looked behind her and nearly cried out in despair. Her little stroll was probably no more than two hundred feet, yet it seemed to have taken twenty minutes. She gripped the doorframe tightly as she looked in on Deidara.

The blond sat slightly hunched over where he was, his back turned to the door and Sakura. He'd seated himself before an upright piano that would probably reach her waist if she stood next to it. The sight of the closed piano surprised Sakura; if there was one thing she wouldn't have expected to be present in the lair of the Akatsuki leader, it was a room meant singularly for playing music. She took a moment to catch her breath, then hoisted herself gently off the frame and took the few torturous steps from the door to the bench where Deidara sat.

He didn't say anything, but he knew she was there. Wordlessly, he scooted to one side of the bench as Sakura neared and she sat with a sigh of relief. "You shouldn't be walking around…yeah." He said, expression severe, but she waved a hand dismissively. "I'm fine, Deidara…My chakra's just drained and my stomach hurts a little, that's all. I don't like that room anyways." Deidara chuckled softly. "You didn't like your room back at the other HQ…yeah."

She shrugged and grinned slightly. "Yeah…" She echoed. She inhaled deeply and looked down at the shutter that covered the piano keys. "You play the piano?" She queried. A smile was on his face, but he shook his head. With the hair covering the rest of his face, Sakura couldn't see his expression from her point of view. "Can't," He said simply.

Sakura furrowed her brows at the stressed tone of his voice. He tilted his head slightly to see her confused expression, and added, "My arms are gone now…yeah." He saw her eyes widen as she remembered the last time he'd stated this. She looked back down to the piano, looking guilty.

"I see…" She muttered lamely. Her finger absently traced circle on the polished black wood, before stretching out both hands and lifting the cover, exposing the pale ivory keys in the dim light of the room. The finger that had been tracing circles now ran gently across each white key in front of her.

"Do you, Sakura?" His voice was soft and even. She shook her head.

"If I ever did, I can't remember it," she replied. She sighed softly. "I don't even know what it sounds like." Deidara shifted so he was facing her. He had a mischievous grin on his face. "I'll teach you while you're here, then…yeah. I can't play anymore, so you can do it for me."

Sakura blinked. "What? I've--I've never even _touched_ one of these before." She protested, but Deidara shook his head with animated energy. His hair swayed back and forth across his face with an animated energy that almost made her laugh. "You can still learn…yeah. I'll teach you a little. It should be easy for you to memorize it with the Sharingan…yeah." Sakura couldn't turn down that energetic expression that lid up Deidara's face, so she shrugged nonchalantly. "Well I guess it wouldn't kill me to learn a little bit…"

Deidara all but leapt to his feet. "Alright!…Yeah." Sakura couldn't help but chuckle at his childish behavior at that moment, but the laughter made her stomach twinge, reminding her of her injuries. "It'll have to wait until I'm healed a bit, though," She said, wincing. The blond's expression sobered quickly. "Right…yeah." He muttered, and moved to her side. "Here, you can use my shoulder…yeah."

Deidara led Sakura back down the hall and to her assigned room. At the doorway she used the wall as support while she guided herself to her bed, where she sat down heavily. She smiled to Deidara, letting him know that she'd be alright, and he nodded with a small smile of his own before leaving her in the silence and darkness of her bedroom. As he passed by a window in the main hall, Deidara saw the sun just beginning to rise.

-/-/-/-/-/-/

Vambrace: Arm guard. I don't know what the correct name is for the arm guards that the ANBU wear, so if you do, PLEASE let me know!

Wow - this chapter was very difficult for me. It doesn't really strike the same chord as the previous chapters but for now, I'm satisfied with it. I loathe writing battle scenes so...for now Sakura can't remember what happened to her to get her all banged up. Ahahaha, I win.

But yeah - Next chapter: Bonding is bad: that statement is music to Sakura's ears compared to what happened between the genjutsu and her waking up in the infirmary. (Rating MIGHT go up...)


End file.
